Whether you realize it or not, you’ve heard the Meat Puppets.  Their name might be familiar because they were massively famous in the punk scene in the 80s, only to outdo themselves with the paradigm shift of an album, Too High to Die.  Of course, the aforementioned album might have gotten a little help when Kurt Cobain asked the guys to come on stage & help out for his MTV Unplugged set.  The band consists primarily of the Kirkwood brothers, Cris & Curt, and whomever they can get to sit at the drum kit…most recently Ted Marcus.

Cris is the younger of the two brothers by a year, and while his face may show most every year of it, his energy-levels were that of a 20 year old.  It was incredible to watch such influential artists as the Meat Puppets and think about what it must have been like nearly 30 years ago when they were starting up…before the drugs, and the constant shift in the music industry. It’s funny to think that Meat Puppets were so influential to Dinosaur Jr, who was so influential to Built to Spill.  And yet here were the Meat Puppets opening for Built to Spill.  What a strange world in which we live!  Cris had left the band years ago & this was the first tour of which he’d taken part in over 10 years…so in many ways I imagine his energy was a direct result of his enthusiasm to be beyond the drugs & back to playing music.  Curt on the other hand was what a musician should be.  Always appearing calm, he created some of the most impressive guitar work I’ve seen in years.  A primary example of this was one point at which he created a space-rock vibe using some interesting tuning and a foot pedal.  Also, the way Curt was able to cut from Rock to country so fluidly was interesting.

Naturally, the crowd responded best to Oh Me, Plateau, and Lake of Fire….but there was an equal energy for Backwater & a few other of the recognizable hits.  I won’t lie…these were my far and away favorites.  Lake of Fire has been one of those songs ever since I was a 13 year old kid that just enraptured me….to hear the Meat Puppets perform it with the energy and intensity that they did…and to think of how powerful of a song it was to so many people…I was mesmerized and on such a high note by the time their set ended.  All in all…the set by Meat Puppets were better than I’d anticipated…and the showmanship brings a fun element to the show…which brings me to Built to Spill…

Let me start off my discussion of Built to Spill with my (sort of) personal history. When I was a freshman in High School my friend Beth Hill turned me on to K Records…that little Olympia-based label run by Calvin Johnson, who has produced some of my favorite bands of all time & inspired many others (including Kurt Cobain, who tatooed the logo to his arm) At that time I was more into the punk scene though, listening to predominately Lookout & Fat bands & while I’d heard Built to Spill in those days…I wasn’t ready for it. As I grew out of my punk phase, I matured enough musically to begin to appreciate Doug & the very K-like indie pop rock he produces. Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch is, as everyone is to some extent, a product of his environment. Having been performing for some 20 years (originally as Treepeople, then Halo Benders, and eventually Built to Spill), Doug has developed with and alongside some of the more culturally relevant bands of our time, such as Beat Happening, Heavens to Betsy, Beck, Love as Laughter, Modest Mouse, Dub Narcotic Soundsystem, and Halo Benders. As a result, everything he does feels so significant. Which is why I wasn’t surprised when the show sold out on Thursday night. What I was a little shocked by were the number of kids. Granted, I was going to shows when I was a freshman & sophomore in high school, and even more as an 18 year old…but I always felt slightly out of place as a lone or rare youngster. Last night’s show felt like it might have been a under 21 show though with the number of kids which was both slightly annoying and yet infinitely encouraging.

As for the show itself, this was my third occasion seeing Built to Spill, and I regret to say the weakest of the several shows. I consider Built to Spill to be amongst my top 5 artists of whom I can listen to at anytime. Also, I consider myself pretty well-versed amongst their catalog of songs, which shocked me when so few of the songs that define them were played, such as Car, Some, Girl, Twin Falls, Israel’s Song, The Plan, Still Flat, Sidewalk, You Were Right, Bad Light, Center of the Universe, I Would Hurt a Fly, none of which were played. In fact, of the songs that were played, I was familiar with only a few. That said, I should know that when I lean heavily towards the earlier stuff, I shouldn’t expect to hear everything I know & I should take what I can get. Particularly when it comes to a couple of my absolute favorites such as Joyride & Reasons….and above all Distopian Dream Girl, which they apparently never never never play. I wasn’t alone, as I heard countless cries for songs such as Car, Israel’s Song, Twin Falls & others…

But nevertheless, something seemed off about Doug…he seemed bored. He played an almost shoegaze style post-rock with minimal expression rather than the poppier style of his younger days. Also, he gave an eerie and often “Thanks” after nearly each song. There are studio bands and there are live bands…sometimes the music just doesn’t fully translate well from album to concert & while I’ve heard complaints in the past about this being the case with Built to Spill, I hadn’t experienced it. The pop aspect of so many BTS songs didn’t carry through to Friday’s show at all & many friends with whom I spoke with after the show complained that it didn’t have the energy & just wasn’t as fun as Doug’s last performance in 2005. It was constantly good….it was just not great as often as it should have been.

One of the problems with a band as incredibly talented as BTS is that the expectations on you are so incredibly high, and that you have such a vast catalog of songs that no matter what you play, you’re just not going to be able to play everything that everyone wants to hear. God knows he must have tried, because looking at the setlist below, he covered every album except Ancient Melodies of the Future. The thing about well-established bands is that when I see them…I want to hear the songs I know & love and Friday night that just didn’t happen. They’ve been doing a visual component to all of their recent shows on this tour which for some reason didn’t make its way into Friday’s set. I’m not exactly disappointed by that as visuals are often distracting anyway.

All of these negative things aside, Doug played what he played incredibly well. There is no dispute that he is an incredibly talented musician & the Brian Eno cover was simply mind-blowing. The original was described as “a near punk attack of riffing guitars and clattering percussion, ‘Third Uncle’ could, in other hands, be a heavy metal anthem, albeit one whose lyrical content would tongue-tie the most slavish air guitarist”, but Doug was flawless. Distopian Dream Girl, Time Trap, Stab, Reasons, Joyride, Else & Carry the Zero were all executed beautifully as well…and these were all the ones that the crowd was feeling…as we all sung in unison, danced & generally seemed like we were at the concert of a cultural icon.
 

Setlist
Goin’ Against Your Mind (You in Reverse)
3 Years Ago Today (Ultimate Alternative Wavers)
Distopian Dream Girl (There’s Nothing Wrong with Love)
Time Trap (Keep it Like a Secret)
Canada
Stab (There’s Nothing Wrong with Love)
Gone (You in Reverse)
Third Uncle (Brian Eno cover)
Reasons (There’s Nothing Wrong with Love)
Joyride (The Normal Years)
Nowhere Nothin’ Fuckup (Ultimate Alternative Wavers)
Wherever You Go (You in Reverse)
Else (Keep it Like a Secret)
Carry the Zero (Keep it Like a Secret)
encore: Stop the Show (Perfect from Now On)

For the photos,

Meat Puppets

Built to Spill