Built to Spill at the Uptown Theater
acutejam
Posts: 1,433
Built to Spill, Uptown Theater, Napa, CA - Saturday February 28, 2012
A beautiful February Saturday night in California, walking around downtown Napa in shirt sleeves. After some drinks, popping into a local Thai restaurant Mini Mango for some delicious wraps and corn fritters, Thai chicken! And then stroll over to the theater, bars are overflowing.
Built to Spill are wrapping up their quick 4-show California swing.... (Pomona, SF, Visalia, Napa!) There's Brett Netson hanging out in the merch booth with the sound guy and the merch man. Catch a bit of the opening act Sister Crayon, always suspicious of a band when you can only recognize, like drums, as actual instruments, but that lead singer had some pipes on her, often singing with no mic in the small 850-seat Uptown Theater. Grab another glass of vino...
BTS come out on stage and plug in their amps, set up their pedals, no swarm of roadies for them. Doug is sitting there noodling while the house music and lights fade, then WHAMO! Just pummel you with that triple-guitar awesome indie jam rock. (Think live Porch or Rearviewmirror, but play most of your set like that! With maybe an extended Black or Daughter tossed in to mix it up.)
They're just so unassuming -- no smoke or flashpots, no major lighting rigs, no logos or backdrops, no lasers, heck, I'm not sure Brett Nelson or Jim Roth ever really open their eyes during the show except to step on a pedal or fiddle with an amp. Scott Plouf the drummer is the epitome of even keel, whether he's pounding out a building crescendo or keeping a soft syncopated beat over a three minute bridge, he's all ice! No flashy guitar god moves on any of them, the music is center stage.
And Doug Martsch is center stage of course -- just amazing sounds, amazing tones, riffs that seem like you've been hearing 'em your whole life. But he's stoic, tight-lipped, eyes down hammering away at power chords with Roth, peeling out blistering effects-laden leads....
Sitting in the second row in front of Netson, hearing the drumkit direct, hearing the bass amps direct, hearing two of the guitar amps direct, and a small reinforcement speaker with the Doug's vocals is in our faces -- just a freakin' blast! That's what made the show for me, tiny venue, up close and personal with their amps! The PA hanging from the ceiling over on the side had no chance! Unfortunately, neither did Roth waaay over on the other side of the stage. But I stood in front of him at the Fillmore, so it was a nice balance hanging with Netson this show!
Tad more sedate crowd at first than Thursday's Fillmore show, but by the end, Napa's vino was definitely powering the crowd where the Fillmore fog had left everyone nearly catatonic! Aisles filled up with folks and people were rocking the last 4-5 songs.
"Hey, you guys are pretty enthusiastic for a seated crowd.... You sound like a standing crowd." Two hours, 16 songs! Broken Chair clocked in at 15 mins! Catch 'em in March when they swing through TX and LA!
Main Set: Traces, In the Morning, Strange, Going Against Your Mind, Life's a Dream, You Were Right, Stop the Show, Stab, Virginia Reel Around the Fountain, Joyride, Distopian Dream Girl, Wherever You Go, Big Dipper, Carry the Zero.
Encore: The Weather, Broken Chair.
Ah, some Urban Legend, the Halo Benders on Real Stories of the Highway Patrol getting pulled over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD96qMnK ... e=youtu.be -- They cuffed Calvin and Doug!!!
A beautiful February Saturday night in California, walking around downtown Napa in shirt sleeves. After some drinks, popping into a local Thai restaurant Mini Mango for some delicious wraps and corn fritters, Thai chicken! And then stroll over to the theater, bars are overflowing.
Built to Spill are wrapping up their quick 4-show California swing.... (Pomona, SF, Visalia, Napa!) There's Brett Netson hanging out in the merch booth with the sound guy and the merch man. Catch a bit of the opening act Sister Crayon, always suspicious of a band when you can only recognize, like drums, as actual instruments, but that lead singer had some pipes on her, often singing with no mic in the small 850-seat Uptown Theater. Grab another glass of vino...
BTS come out on stage and plug in their amps, set up their pedals, no swarm of roadies for them. Doug is sitting there noodling while the house music and lights fade, then WHAMO! Just pummel you with that triple-guitar awesome indie jam rock. (Think live Porch or Rearviewmirror, but play most of your set like that! With maybe an extended Black or Daughter tossed in to mix it up.)
They're just so unassuming -- no smoke or flashpots, no major lighting rigs, no logos or backdrops, no lasers, heck, I'm not sure Brett Nelson or Jim Roth ever really open their eyes during the show except to step on a pedal or fiddle with an amp. Scott Plouf the drummer is the epitome of even keel, whether he's pounding out a building crescendo or keeping a soft syncopated beat over a three minute bridge, he's all ice! No flashy guitar god moves on any of them, the music is center stage.
And Doug Martsch is center stage of course -- just amazing sounds, amazing tones, riffs that seem like you've been hearing 'em your whole life. But he's stoic, tight-lipped, eyes down hammering away at power chords with Roth, peeling out blistering effects-laden leads....
Sitting in the second row in front of Netson, hearing the drumkit direct, hearing the bass amps direct, hearing two of the guitar amps direct, and a small reinforcement speaker with the Doug's vocals is in our faces -- just a freakin' blast! That's what made the show for me, tiny venue, up close and personal with their amps! The PA hanging from the ceiling over on the side had no chance! Unfortunately, neither did Roth waaay over on the other side of the stage. But I stood in front of him at the Fillmore, so it was a nice balance hanging with Netson this show!
Tad more sedate crowd at first than Thursday's Fillmore show, but by the end, Napa's vino was definitely powering the crowd where the Fillmore fog had left everyone nearly catatonic! Aisles filled up with folks and people were rocking the last 4-5 songs.
"Hey, you guys are pretty enthusiastic for a seated crowd.... You sound like a standing crowd." Two hours, 16 songs! Broken Chair clocked in at 15 mins! Catch 'em in March when they swing through TX and LA!
Main Set: Traces, In the Morning, Strange, Going Against Your Mind, Life's a Dream, You Were Right, Stop the Show, Stab, Virginia Reel Around the Fountain, Joyride, Distopian Dream Girl, Wherever You Go, Big Dipper, Carry the Zero.
Encore: The Weather, Broken Chair.
Ah, some Urban Legend, the Halo Benders on Real Stories of the Highway Patrol getting pulled over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD96qMnK ... e=youtu.be -- They cuffed Calvin and Doug!!!
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