Built to Spill brought their finely tuned electric stage-show to Toad’s Place on Sunday. Hailing from Idaho, the band released some of the most critically-acclaimed albums of the past decade, namely “Perfect From Now On” and “Keep it Like a Secret,” under Warner Bros records, after playing on some underground indie labels.
The quintet, led by mastermind frontman, Doug Martsch, features a three-guitar onslaught, and boasts a sound built just as much around clever melodies and witty lyrics as fantastic guitar jams. The cohesive act ultimately falls somewhere between the familiar territory of Pavement and Neil Young.
After the openers, Martsch and the band sauntered on stage to set up their gear sans help from roadies, and were seemingly oblivious to the crowd’s cheers and steadfast at the task at hand. Built to Spill then blazed directly into their set without introduction, opening with one of three new songs of the night. All of the new efforts were well received as the band fine-tuned the tracks for their upcoming spring release.
From there, the band ventured into familiar territory as they delved right into the clanging crowd pleaser, “Distopian Dream Girl.” This performance exhibited the band’s penchant for lengthy solos, while devolving into their typical controlled noise during intermittent lulls. Martsch remained quiet as usual, keeping the music first and the act second. Nonetheless, the crowd was pleased as Built to Spill churned out their popular songs such as “The Plan” and “Center of the Universe,” two clever and melodic songs.
The harder tunes were supplemented with the more ballad-like “Velvet Waltz,” an orchestral guitar rendering of the composer’s more eclectic side. It is during moments like this that the true song-writing ability is seen, as the three guitars beautifully meander and mingle through indiscriminate melodies complementing the piece as a whole.
When at their best, Built to Spill offers one of the tightest and intricate sounds around. This fact rings true not only on their studio albums, but also during their live shows, a feat not easily accomplished. However, this perfection of sound and production comes at a price as the pre-song set up and tuning amounted to minutes of dead air in between each song.
The hour-and-a-half set pounded on and proved adequate, though it was ultimately shortened as they were forced to stop after 1 a.m. Martsch apologized for this while offering to skip the encore just before the band ripped into its closer, the Beatles’s cover “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” This final performance was done convincingly as the band’s tri-guitar approach nailed the Clapton riffs and provided an excellent close to the night.
Built to Spill may lack conventional stage presence and showmanship, but the professional rockers engage and enthrall an audience with the music alone.
Leave a Reply