Sparks Spectacular: Indiscreet
Posted in Concert Reviews, Music, Reviews, Sparks Spectacular |By Craig Irving
Since I arrived in London, everything was an emotional build up to this show. It’s always been my favorite Sparks record and I never thought I would get to hear it played up close and in person. There isn’t a single track on the album I wasn’t dying to hear live.
Photo © Daniel Gray @Dead By Sunrise
I heard about their plans to bring in musicians for the show that night to play strings and horns and I was very excited. I heard that it was a last-minute decision, but the musical prodigies they hired came and just destroyed it. . . seriously. Everything altogether sounded utterly incredible. “Without Using Hands,” “Get In The Swing,” “Under The Table With Her,” “How Are You Getting Home,” “Pineapple”. . . it was almost too much to handle. It’s exhausting really; hit after hit after hit, and everything played to perfection.
My favorite of the evening was definitely “In The Future;” that’s always been my favorite song off the album. I always dreamed of how loud, crazy, and quirky those keyboard lines would sound live and I was right; Ron played them wonderfully. I can’t imagine how “Looks, Looks, Looks” would have sounded without the extra musicians they brought in. I guess Ron would have just programmed everything into his keyboards, which obviously wouldn’t have had a tenth of the impact it did.
My only disappointment that night was that I was hoping they would play “Looks Aren’t Everything” as the encore, but instead they played “Gone With The Wind.” Oh well, I got to hear it on their webcast later.
At the end of the show it was clear to me this would be the peak of my trip. Even though I had the privilege of seeing Sparks three more times after that night (Big Beat, Introducing Sparks, and, No. 1 In Heaven), Indiscreet was the height of my Sparks Spectacular experience. To top things off, I had the pleasure of meeting Ron and Russell after the show
. . . another dream come true.
As my trip to London was winding down, I thought I would get depressed pretty quickly. But after having the privilege of seeing Sparks play eight concerts in a row, I knew I had no reason to feel unfulfilled. Even better, I knew I would be seeing Steven McDonald play with Redd Kross two weeks later in Toronto. Who wouldn’t be thrilled?
. . . and as Ron writes, “wanting more than what I have might appear as greed.”
Click to read. . .
Also:
Please read Mike Bennett’s review at Hablo Ennui.