Read previous – Spoon @ White Eagle Hall in Jersey City
Photos and words by Taylor Shields
Austin, TX indie-rock legends, Spoon graced the stage of The Fillmore in Philly on Wednesday, 5/4, a rescheduled date after the band’s April 15th show was canceled due to some positive COVID cases amongst the band and touring crew. Their fans had already been waiting some time for a proper Spoon tour. What’s another few weeks? After all, Lucifer on the Sofa is the band’s first album in 5 years, following 2017’s Hot Thoughts. Back with a grittier, more rugged sound that somehow is still uniquely Spoon, frontman Britt Daniel credits a ZZ Top discography deep-dive for much of the album’s inspiration, specifically the first single, “The Hardest Cut“.
Over the past nearly three decades, the band’s Rolling Stone album reviews have ranged from “consistently good” to “consistently excellent.” Each new record seems to top the last, in terms of just how far they can experiment with their sound, while still maintaining the audible integrity of what makes Spoon Spoon. Part of that recipe is the Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno’s near 30-year run as the band’s founding members.
Spoon began their set with the low-tempo bluesy Smog cover, “Held”, the opening track off Lucifer, followed by “Got Nuffin” off 2010’s Transference (my personal favorite and generally underappreciated Spoon album). The rest of their packed 22-song setlist allowed for much of the new album, as well as some crowd-pleasing Spoon classics, such as “Don’t You Evah”, “I Turn My Camera On”, and “The Underdog”. The band even managed to fit in an incredible cover of John Lennon’s “Isolation” and a rendition of Richard & Linda Thompson’s “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” along with opening act Margaret Glaspy.
The Lucifer on the Sofa Tour picks back up on the West Coast on May 24th, with shows in Denver, Salt Lake City, and a string of dates in the Golden State (see all upcoming tour dates here). They’ll be returning to the tri-state again this August when they play a date with Interpol at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park (tickets here).
Check out the full setlist from their show at The Fillmore Philly below and keep scrolling to see more photos.
Spoon Setlist (5/4/2022):
– Held
– Got Nuffin
– Don’t You Evah
– Do You
– The Beast and Dragon, Adored
– The Hardest Cut
– Outlier
– The Underdog
– My Babe
– I Summon You
– Lucifer on the Sofa
– My Mathematical Mind
– Do I Have to Talk You Into It
– Inside Out
– I Turn My Camera On
– The Way We Get By
// Encore //
– Isolation (John Lennon cover)
– Wild
– I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard + Linda Thompson cover w/ Margaret Glaspy)
– Feels Alright
– Small Stakes
– Rent I Pay
