Sydney's Vivid Live festival hasn't been running all that long (I think this is the third), but it's quickly developed a reputation for delivering a whole lot of exciting international performers from a variety of different genres. Unfortunately for us folks on the other side of the Murray, most of the festival's performances are usually exclusive to Sydney, but for one particular act this year I treated this as a minor inconvenience, as my heart was setting on seeing this performance. The performance of course was British psychedelic collective Spiritualized, who were bringing a full 30 musician ensemble into our country to fully render the entire tracklisting of their 1997 masterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space in all its cosmic glory. This is an album that's delighted pretty much every ear that's ever come across it, with near-universal critical acclaim since its release about fifteen years ago. In fact, the legendary music magazine NME awarded Ladies and Gentlemen... the title of "album of the year" in 1997 - quite an achievement when you consider that in that year, two other releases were Radiohead's OK Computer and The Verve's Urban Hymns, which were absolutely massive in Britain at the time and still have a big impact on music today. It's only in the past couple of years that Spiritualized visionary Jason Pierce (or J Spaceman if you prefer) has undertaken some special shows with his band to perform the album in its entirety, and after a well-received set at 2009's Australian edition of the ATP festival, Spiritualized returned to our shores to bring this amazing set of songs to life in the biggest way possible.
With no support act on the bill (and what band, especially an Australian one, could possibly be justified in opening such a magnificent event?), punters were through the Opera Theatre's doors and in their seats for a 9:00pm start. And start it did; the lights flickered off gradually and all 30 musicians made their way out onto the stage - first the strings and brass section (who unfortunately were hidden up the back pretty much entirely out of my view for the whole evening), then a white-robed choir, and finally the "main" Spiritualized band, comprised of two guitarists, one bassist, one keyboardist, one drummer and one percussionist. The loudest cheers were reserved for the eventual emergence of the Spaceman himself, donned in white and wearing sunglasses. As he took his position at the right of the stage, sitting down with guitar in hand and lyric sheets and mics in front of him, spontaneous appreciative shouts broke out amongst the crowd.
After a few tenuous seconds and some undesired feedback, a familiar disembodied voice announced "Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space" over the PA, and the show began, with a simplistic yet effective backdrop of shining star-like lights illuminating the stage. The title track from the album got things off to a nice slow steady start, with the audience's heads bobbing slightly and mouthing the words to the song. With the "whole album in order" format of the show, nobody was suprised at what song came next - some might see this as a bit of a downfall in that the usual element of unpredictability of a band's live setlist was lost. However, Come Together has long been held as a highlight of the band's career and seeing this modern classic in all its splendour got the crowd suitably revved up. Naturally, there was some pretty intense lighting accompanying the dizzying "wall of sound" approach to the band's music; hopefully there were no epilepsy sufferers in the audience!
The knowledge of the precise order of what songs would be played didn't take away from the magic of the show at all - if anything the familiarity was enjoyed by most punters as the band worked their way through some truly stunning renditions of the material. The more laidback numbers such as I Think I'm in Love and Stay With Me were accompanied with suitable slow moving lighting that provided the perfect accompaniment to Pierce's dreamy vocals. Somewhat ironically, it was while Pierce was singing "Stay with me... don't go", and during some other slower songs, that some members of the audience ducked out of the room briefly. I get it, slow songs are a good time to leave if you have to at all, but really, what the hell was the excuse? Drank a bit too much before the show? Ahh. The distractions of people leaving aside, there were many highlights in the show. The extra musicians onstage really made a difference in recreating the very full sound that was present on the studio recordings - after all, how could you have Come Together without brass, or Broken Heart without strings, or Cool Waves without a choir? The band faithfully recreated every moment that we all expected, and in the live setting, the amazing dynamic range of Spiritualized was really emphasised even more - blinding strobe lights accompanying the full band jamming freak-outs of Electricity and No God Only Religion, while the choir and gentle lights set the tone perfectly for the likes of Broken Heart and Cool Waves. Pierce is known for being a bit of an atypical frontman - he never once stood up from his chair, faced the audience or even acknowledged them at all with a "thank you" or any banter whatsoever. Yet somehow, this didn't even matter, as his musicianship spoke for itself and somehow his lack of stage presence drew even more attention to him - but also served to make sure the rest of the talented musicians got their moment in the sun.
As the band scaled some amazing musical heights with the dizzying 17-minute epic Cop Shoot Cop..., it was clear to all the punters in the room that this, being the last track on Ladies and Gentlemen..., would probably signify something close to the end of the night. As the final notes rang out, there was a surprising repeat of the familiar "Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space" announcement, but that served to be a definitive end to the set, and was the cue for the entire audience to rise to their feet, giving the band a much-deserved standing ovation. The musicians left the stage slowly, taking the time to soak in the audience appreciation, until finally only Pierce was left. He rose from his chair and actually spoke the words "Thank you" quite audibly, clearly happy with the reception he'd received. It even looked like he was smiling! However, as the band left the stage and a few roadies came on, the applause kept on going, and with the lights staying down, and the roadies seemingly just doing another quick sound check, it was clear that there would be an encore. Eventually Spiritualized returned to the stage, and treated the audience to a great rendition of Out of Sight, from their Let it Come Down album. Perhaps the only surprise of the evening, it was certainly well-appreciated by everyone, and as the band left the stage for good, there was no mistaking - Pierce was definitely grinning this time, and for good reason.
SETLIST:
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Can't Help Falling In Love)
Come Together
I Think I'm In Love
All of My Thoughts
Stay With Me
Electricity
Home of the Brave
The Individual
Broken Heart
No God Only Religion
Cool Waves
Cop Shoot Cop...
----Encore----
Out of Sight
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