Built was Spilt

We'll just come right out and say it: Last night's Built to Spill show was surprisingly lackluster. Perhaps that's what we get for attending the second of a three-night stand: missing out on the intensity of the first night and the what-the-hell-ness of the last. Instead, we got a set that drew mostly from the band's latest album You in Reverse (and not even the good stuff off that album), plus three brand-new unreleased songs, which our companion delineated as follows: "one was pretty good, one was okay, and one was complete crap."

We've seen the band several times before, and compared to those shows, this one was way lame. They did play a couple old songs---including a solo version of "Car" to lead off the set---and one track from Ancient Melodies of the Future, the short, peppy "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss," one of the night's few high-energy moments. But only a single song (a long jam-heavy encore of "Broken Chairs") from their best album Keep It Like a Secret?!?! No "Carry the Zero," no "The Plan," no "Center of the Universe," no "You Were Right," not even an em-effing "Time Trap." Which leads me to ask: Doug Martsch, are you trying to kill me? Or at least make me hate you? If so, then playing a reggae song was a step in the right direction. As was playing that song full of bumper sticker platitudes ("no one is free till everyone is free"). That same song featured the lines "Don't ask what your country can do for you / The question is what you can do for it" not once, not twice, but thrice. Or was it fourice? We lost track, what with all the rage.

We can't comment on Tuesday night's show, nor tonight's show-to-be (both of which sold out). But for a band as talented as Built to Spill, last night was the suck.

Photo care of Flickr / user artsphreak.