Last year, to celebrate their 25th anniversary, Lollapalooza extended their festival weekend to four days. Because this was so wildly successful, Lollapalooza kept the extra long weekend for 2017 and featured some of the biggest acts in rock, pop, and hip-hop. The night before Lollapalooza started, Spoon took the stage at Metro to prep for their big set in Grant Park the next day.
Spoon's Britt Daniel playing "I Turn My Camera On"
Hard rockers CRX started the night with an impressive opening set. CRX are a relatively new band (having formed in 2013) but have already made a name for themselves. Playing a more traditionally hard-rock set than Spoon, CRX jammed out and had the crowd excited for their music (which is a huge challenge that opening bands often face). The band played not one but two sets at Lollapalooza the following day and are slated to play The Meadows Arts and Music Festival in New York City next month.
Spoon has been around for almost 25 years; formed in Austin, Texas in 1993 by vocalist Britt Daniels and drummer Jim Eno, the band has had an impressive career as a consistently critically-acclaimed indie band. The released of their newest album, Hot Thoughts, on St. Patrick’s Day of this year and reached #17 on the Billboard 200 charts. For their pre-Lollapalooza show, Spoon played some of their biggest hits as well as new songs from Hot Thoughts. Playing “I Turn My Camera On”, “The Underdog”, and other classic songs, Britt Daniels had the crowd hanging onto his every word.
It’s easy to see why Spoon has been so successful over the years; Daniels’ voice has hardly changed and sounds exactly like it does on their records. Their sound ranges from hard rock to trippy indie and often settles somewhere in between. Their music never feels experimental or edgy, but it’s refreshing to hear a band who know their audience and can expand upon their signature sound successfully. Their set at the Metro was proof that Daniels and company can easily play a venue of 1,000 on a Wednesday night then rock out at one of the largest festivals in the country.
For those of you wondering, yes, Spoon’s Lollapalooza set was just as amazing as their Metro set. Although, seeing them in a small, iconic venue felt a little more special.
Spoon are currently on tour throughout the U.S. and will be back in Illinois on September 10th for a show in Peoria. Details on their tour can be found here.
