Spiritualized
2022 Tour
BY ABBY VELA
The Minneapolis venue, the Fine Line, hosted the experimental-space rock group, Spiritualized for a night of pure noise. Their debut album, “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space,” brought them massive popularity in the late 1990s, and their commitment to sonic experimentation has paid off. The band’s two albums, “And Nothing Hurt (2018)” and “Everything Was Beautiful (2022),” forayed into ambient gospel and shoegaze that make for a lovely, dissociative evening. I wish I could say the same for their live performances, but there were a few crucial qualities that left me unsatisfied.
While the live music sounded good, the performance felt lackluster. The band congregated on stage with very little movement while bright lights flashed and videos of distorted static played behind. Usually, I’d find this juxtaposition striking, but these paired with 10-minute-long songs that started to sound the same after the 5th song. Halfway through the set, I felt as if I’d listen to the same verse over and over again. Don’t get me wrong. I love a droning and repetitive song that builds into oblivion before bursting my eardrums, but with every song being like this, a whole two-hour set list like that starts to sound monotonous.
Did I mention the setlist clocked in at two hours?
Spiritualized is a band that’s done some groundbreaking work, but it is work I shall listen to in the comfort of my own headphones.