On Tuesday I saw The Polyphonic Spree (myspace) at the Great American Music Hall.

Jessica Hoop opened and everyone (except one lone, awesome guy front and center) was sitting on the floor. I’d never seen that at the Great American before. Anyway, Jessica was not exactly to my liking, though the audience in general seemed appreciative.

There was a surge forward after her set and people seemed to know, at least by reputation, that this was something you wanted to be in the front for. Having seen the Spree, oh, a few times (the first being almost four years ago—it’s hard to believe), I knew I wanted to be up front.

There was a red banner stretch across the stage between acts. Music played while the lyrics of a song flashed onto the banner and the band filed on stage. Tim cut a heart into the banner and then cut it in two and the band started their set.

(I’m not sure how you wouldn’t know who the Polyphonic Spree are, but if you don’t they’re a 24 piece band from Dallas that came out of the defunct Tripping Daisy and they make “symphonic pop”. They have the usual rock instruments (two guitars, bass, a couple keyboardists, a couple percussionists) plus a string section, a brass section, a harpist, a flutist, a 10ish piece choir and Tim DeLaughter singing lead.)

Early on in their set they did a few from the newest album including, I think “Get up and Go” and “the Fragile Army”. They also did a great, slowed down (and acoustic, for the first half) version of “It’s the Sun.” It was during that song that I first got that not-often-felt but now familiar feeling: Holy crap if they could bottle this and sell it I would want a constant supply.

The band was tight throughout the night and put about as much energy as I’ve seen the Spree (which is to say, about as much energy I’ve seen any band) put into one of their shows. They seemed really into, really happy to be there and making music for us and the audience seemed really happy to be there. I’ve never felt the floor at the Great American move like it did when people were bouncing during some of those songs. Other songs they definitely played included “Younger Yesterday”, “Mental Cabaret” and “We Crawl.”

They ended their set with “the Championship”. The audience sang along (”All in good time, we’ll come round, raise our voice, make another round”) as the band exited the stage one at a time, leaving the harpist to the end. He left and the audience kept singing until the band made their way from the back of the theater in their old white robes back on stage for the encore.

Tim came on and asked what we wanted to hear—”Soldier Girl”, “Hold Me Now” or “Light & Day” … or all three, which they did in that order. I have to say, those are some of my favorite Spree songs. There was also their version of Nirvana’s “Lithium”. Then there was a lengthy (15 minute) version of “When a Fool Becomes a King” including a freeze scene where the whole band but Tim froze and he walked around and played their instruments. They segued that into “Ride Captain Ride” to end out the night.

After the set, Tim mentioned that they “really needed this” and broke into “December 1963 (Oh What a Night)” (by the Four Seasons). He also talked “crassly” (his own word) about the financial hardship of being in a giant band and asked the audience to buy stuff.

That was the fifth time I’ve seen the Polyphonic Spree, my first in a couple years, and it was definitely worth going to, despite what I was thinking earlier in the day. While this had as much energy as other Spree shows I’ve seen, I don’t think this will rank up in my top concerts ever as some of those shows do. It just didn’t have as much impact, probably mostly because of me rather than because of their performance.

Mini review of Fragile Army: It’s always odd to talk about the Polyphonic Spree albums because, well, the bands not about their recordings, it’s about their live shows, I feel. I didn’t even give The Beginning Stages of… a second listen until after I first saw them. That said, they are definitely getting better at record, with this one being their best sounding album yet. Unfortunately, I feel like the songs on it may not stand up as well compared to “Light & Day”, “Hold Me Now”, or even some of their lesser known songs that I love like “Days Like This Make Me Warm” or “One Man Show.” The first two albums grew on me, so perhaps too will The Fragile Army.

View the entire photo album here and/ or more photos after the jump. (Also, someone else’s youtube video of their version of “Lithium”).

They broke out the vintage Polyphonic Spree white robes for the encore.

The Polyphonic Spree covering Nirvana:

There are a couple more videos here.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 12:51 am Posted by adrian in SF bay area, live review, photos, video. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.