Built to Spill

I hadn't realized they were so jammy, and I guess in B,VT you can't expect, at a rock show 600-kid strong, not to catch a glimpse of the backwards-hat-frat-jam-dance. It was described to me as "like a seven-year-old," and I looked over and agreed completely. If you've never seen it, perhaps it's impossible to really get the humor of it, but it's there, bouncing, back to front, beer in hand, eyes squinted, emotion on the face, head rocking with the beat, mouth trying to lip sync the words but not really knowing them. (It's OK, I don't really know many BTS lyrics either, but as a side note it's great when you catch them, very poignant, clever, well-put. But I'll get to that in a minute). I'm doing the jam-dance right now, sitting at my kitchen table, trying to figure out really how to describe it in words. It's a culture thing.

The lyrics. Excellent. They opened up with "Goin' Against Your Mind" and as awesome as it was to watch him sing, the phrases are pretty cool. "Thought it was an alien/ Turned out to be just God." I downloaded another live version and it sounds like he says it differently.

So, Doug Martsch had this video projection with a slide show of the album art from "You in Reverse," and it was the most lo-fi operation you can picture. He's just got this flimsy stand (it looked like a music stand from high school concert band) and the thing keeps shaking when the bass gets loud. And it blipped a couple times when they really got into it, and toward the end of the song when they're really rocking out, it starts to fall and then the signal cuts out and the thing says "no signal" on the projection board as it's slowly sinking because the stand is shaking so much and as the song crescendoes and the stage lights are turning red and he's singing his fuckin heart out, the stupid thing just falls out of view and then it's just the band, playing rock music. It was mesmerizing, cathartic.

It happened a couple times. Doug and the other guitarist really wanted to get a political tape to play, but the sound was giving them trouble. Eventually, they figured it out and played it during the encore to a tired but loyal audience. It didn't say a lot, but it was there. And it was important for them. I say Bravo.

"This next song is dedicated to Hugo Chavez," said Martsch before playing the awesomest track from the newest album. It was awesome. His intentions are so noble. And he wasn't kidding about leaving during the last song. It's like a contest to see if they can outlast the audience. I just wish they played "Car."