Built to Spill

Hailing from Idaho, Built to Spill is a band that doesn’t tour much but instead plays a few dates in their home state and then here and there at festivals and a few in Portland, Oregon.

That’s why I jumped at the chance to see them perform at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay here in Las Vegas on Monday, Sept. 10. The best part? Tickets were only $17! As I always do, I bought two tickets and worried about finding someone to go with later. Luckily, my new roomies are into the same music as me, so one of my roomies and I went.

I had planned to accompany this blog with a few photos, but the House of Blues doesn’t allow cameras. Most places say that, but they usually mean professional cameras, not dinky digital ones like mine. So, I had to check it for $2 (ridiculous).

We missed most of the first opening band, the Delusions.

Next up was Camper Van Beethoven, a band that was in its hey-day about 15-20 years ago, probably most famous for their song “Take the Skinheads Bowling” that was featured in Michael Moore‘s documentary, Bowling for Columbine.

They were better live than what I’d heard of their stuff on the Internet, and I enjoyed watching the violinist. I have a thing for violinists, y’see. It all started innocently enough with watching Owen Pallett and Sarah Neufeld work their magic as part of Arcade Fire, and then it led to me getting into Pallett’s solo act, Final Fantasy.

Here’s a video of Pallet performing “This is the Dream of Win and Regine” (about his married Arcade Fire bandmates):

Camper Van Beethoven finished, and my roommate commented that the House of Blues was the emptiest he’d ever seen it. The crowd was sparse, but it was also a mixed crowd, with a good chunk of middle-agers around, probably to see Camper Van Beethover. But then, Built to Spill has been around for about 15 years as well, so I’m sure some of the older crowd was my age when they first heard them.

Built to Spill was a nice change from the concerts I’ve gone to for most of the year in that they pretty much just played. There weren’t elaborate on-stage antics. They didn’t pull out motorcycle helmets and beat on them like Arcade Fire and they didn’t have a giant floating pig like Roger Waters did at his performance at the MGM in June.

They played a lot of my favorites like “Liar”, “In the Morning”, and “Traces” but skipped over what is my favorite song by them, “Car.”

Here’s a decent fan video of a quieter version of “Car” (youtube mostly brings up fan videos of performances….not very many professional ones):

My roommate had told me he heard from a friend that Built to Spill goes into lots of guitar riffs for extended periods, and he was right. This was a fun part of the show, except when they ended the show on it.

After playing a three-minute song they didn’t end it but went into a 10 to 15 minute guitar riff following the song….and once done said “thanks!” and started unplugging equipment and once the house lights came up a minute later it was obvious an encore wasn’t going to happen. I think the crowd felt the same stupor I did that they ended on a random guitar riff instead of a great song that would get the crowd going.

They played for about an hour and a half…I felt they could have gone a bit longer, but for $17 I don’t feel entitled to complain too much.

I also got the impression the lead singer, Doug Martsch, just didn’t give a shit that he ended the show like he did.

So, we left, and I almost forgot my camera.

The next day I read a brief interview with Martsch in the Las Vegas Weekly. It added some illumination to the performance, especially how he chooses set-lists.

Who knows when I’ll get a chance to see Built to Spill again. It’s always an amazing feeling seeing one of your favorite bands live for the first time, especially in an intimate venue like the House of Blues.

First time at the House of Blues, I have to say I really dig it with the exception of no cameras. Drinks were relatively cheap with a vodka-cranberry only costing $7.50 (this was after buying one for $10 at the sports bar outside the venue).

So, that was my first concert of September and my first since the so-so performance of Snow Patrol and Hot Hot Heat at the Pearl venue at the Palms in July.

The rest of September will be a busy concert month…lots to look forward to.

Keep checking back for more!