Reviewed onThursday March 10
Built To Spill made a welcome return to Sydney last Thursday night. One of the last worthwhile vestiges of classic ’90s indie, their evocative, nuanced guitar workouts are a thing to behold. Sure, they might be toeing the nostalgia line, but there’s still enough verve there to enable moments of enlightenment.
Early in his support set, Ben Salter remarked, “If I wasn’t opening the show, I’d be in amongst the audience.” From his very first BTS-indebted notes, it was clear he wasn’t just brown-nosing. Salter played a selection from his solo releases, and his country-inflected indie tunes – matched with his cynical, sharp wit – suited the night so well, it was as if they were made to complement a set from the headliners.
Opening with a slower, dreamier ‘Randy Described Eternity’ than on the timeless Perfect From Now On, Built To Spill’s Doug Martsch and co. performed a trick on the crowd that they replicated for the next two hours. The songs lull you into their sound, before you lose consciousness of your surroundings, leaving you either in a stupor or wondering just how can three guitars make the sound of 50.
The set jumped around the band’s 25-plus-year career, with highlights being a focus on 1999’s Keep It Like A Secret (and a reminder that the pure, weightless ‘Else’ might be their best song) and a twisting, behemoth version of ‘Goin’ Against Your Mind’. The material from last year’s Untethered Moon had the added benefit of the band still visibly excited to find out where the songs can go live. The climactic ‘So’ and the perfect pop of ‘Never Be The Same’ hold up to any song from Built To Spill’s so-called ‘classic’ period.
The encore also offered a taste of the group’s lighter side, with their legit cover of ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ (complete with Clint Hyndman of Salter’s band and Something For Kate on requisite cowbell) and The Smiths’ ‘How Soon Is Now?’, with the twin guitar siren of Brett Netson and Jim Roth capturing its alien grace better than both Morrissey and Johnny Marr do in concerts now.
Built To Spill came to Manning, did what they do best, then bid adieu. Long may they continue to do so.
