Spoon headlines The Night the Buzz Stole Christmas

When a band has been playing music with each other for 15 years, it usually begins to show. Even without the raw talent, the stage act is bound to progress. With a band flowing with talent like Spoon, 15 years of practice certainly adds up.

It makes bands that have only been playing together for two years--like Hockey--or six years--like the Bravery--look like inexperienced youngsters. But these bands--Hockey, Metric, the Bravery, and Spoon--all played together at the Night the Buzz Stole Christmas (a local radio station's Christmas show) at the Midland last night.

Hockey started off the night, showing their enthusiasm that couldn't be channeled well enough. With their first beats, I knew there was a reason why they were paired with Spoon. They had some neat rhythms, but it was very amateur, and they were shell-shocked by the size of the crowd. Neither the lead singer nor the bassist could clearly speak to the crowd between songs (and they were the only two that tried). The mic sounded fine when they sung, but they clammed up whenever they tried to say anything between songs and it just sounded like "Pzzzz." I thought I heard the bassist saying something about being from Oregon and that this was their first Kansas City show. Yay for the Oregonians, but I'll be looking for this band after they've made three or four stops in this city and have improved their art.

Metric changed gears entirely. Fronted by the only woman of the evening, their stage presence was overwhelming. Now that I have wikipedia at my fingertips, I see that they've been making music for over a decade. It shows. The singer, Emily Haines, captivated the audience, especially the males, in her super short, sparkly, no-back dress. It wasn't just her clothes, though. This lady knew how to rock the stage, and they had the music to back it up. Apparently they sing the song "Help, I'm alive. My heart keeps beating like a hammer" that comes on the radio a lot. Looks like it took them a decade to get any commercial success with their music, which is quite reminiscent to Spoon.

The Bravery's emo came next. They had stage presence as well, but they're still young and frankly a bit too emo for me. While they have a couple radio hits, my favorite song was when the lead guitarist took over vocals from the Brandon Flowers wannabe singer and played an almost alt-country song. It isn't that their hit singles are horrible or anything, but they're kind of cliche. Although the song "Just give me something to believe" isn't anything that great, it's anthemic chorus begs to be sung to.

After four hours of standing, Spoon finally came on. From the beginning, we could see that this act was going to be different from the other three. These guys are so comfortable on stage--especially frontman Britt Daniel--and utterly captivating. With only four guys and usually only one guitarist (Daniel), they make fuller sounds than most other bands.

Daniel doesn't do anything too fancy with the guitar, but his skill is obvious. I remember seeing him play a solo show (although Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney played drums) in his residence Portland last year, and I couldn't stop looking at his abnormally large hands that could play a chord across the entire guitar neck, I swear. Looking at chords to any Spoon song is enough to give you a headache.

On stage, Daniel plays intricate lead guitar riffs while singing in his unique vocal style throughout. It's not often that you see a lead singer playing the guitar parts he does.

Drummer and producer Jim Eno, who is essentially the other half of Spoon, was emotionless as always, but Daniel carried the weight of the crowd.

This was the first show in four months for the band, according to Daniel, but only once did that show. Eno launched into the beating drum intro to "The Underdog," which is probably Spoon's biggest hit, and Daniel screwed up the guitar beyond hope. Eno and keyboardist Eric Harvey kept up with their maraca beat, waiting for Daniel to salvage his off-key mess. It was beyond hope, but when he started the progression over, the song got off to a solid start. Spoon has undoubtedly played this song at every concert in the last three years, so you know they're rusty if they mess it up.

Although this show is pretty random, as the band isn't on a tour, they are getting ready to release their seventh album, Transference, in January. Although they did play three or four new songs, never once did they plug their new album in hopes of selling records. Not sure if their record label would agree with me, but I think that's admirable.

When I thought their set was maybe halfway over, they waved goodbye and left the stage. Encore and all only added up to an hour, but I guess that's the breaks of a four-band show. I know I've seen Spoon some 3 1/2 times, but I wish they would have given this legendary band that's just getting into their stride some more time.

But looking back at Spoon's repertoire, it took the band more than a decade to get any kind of commercial success. It took them a few years to achieve any musical success even by merit, as their first two albums (in my opinion) are better called Pixies wannabes than original works. Once they found their stride, some commercial success followed, and they're walking strong. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these younger bands to follow suit in a few years.