The New Pornographers rock out Portland, ME A-

Last night, Canadian indie rockers performed a powerful double bill in Portland, Me last night at the State Theater with Spoon. The result was a great night filled with wonderful music from both bands, and The New Pornographers performed a great hour long set that got the place up and going for Spoon.
Portland Maine was treated to a pretty sweet double bill last night when indie rock bands Spoon & The New Pornographers performed together. "It's our first time in Portland, I'm feeling the vibes!" proclaimed lead singer Carl Newman earlier on in the set. The band seemed to be digging the crowd which quickly packed the place by the third or fourth song. In fact, there were just as many people that were into The New Pornographers as they were into Spoon, if not more.

It was great to see so many people in the crowd and dancing  to The New Pornographers. They almost got to see more action from the crowd than Spoon, the headliners, which was a great thing in itself. The indie rock group performed for a good solid hour, rocking out hits like 'Brill Bruisers' and 'High Ticket Attractions' earlier on in their set. Everyone from New Pornographers were great that night, especially lead fronts Carl Newman and Neko Case, who had a light and shine of her own throughout the performance.

However, the real highlight of the New Pornographers set wasn't Carl or Neko, but back up singer and violinist Kathryn Calder. Her moves were truly unique and when she did pick up the violin it was enchanting just to listen to her. Kathyrn's voice was just as good if not better than Neko's, and she fit in with the band extremely well. Although she hardly said a word, and it was Carl who did most of the talking, her presence was powerful in every way.

The set included both new and older songs which was great to hear, especially Mass Romantic at the end and 'Sing Me Spanish Techno'. It was good to see them playing some of their newer songs as well like 'Whiteout Conditions'. The New Pornographers proved that after half a dozen album releases and being extremely active in the music industry together or during their own projects, they can put on a great show no matter what.

Later of course, Spoon came on stage at roughly 9:50PM after two decent opening acts. By that time, the State Theater was packed. It was extremely hot and steamy in the venue after a warm day outside, especially for an old theater with no A.C. The venue seemed to pick up on this and were fortunately giving out bottles of water to everyone in the crowd which was a good thing to do considering how warm it was in the venue. The heat was really the only thing bad about the entire night, but it was a negative that could not be ignored.

Despite the tense heat, Spoon were dressed like rockstars and looked the part. The Austin, TX indie rock band were better than ever last night. Musically, they sounded great. The sound was actually the best thing of the show last night, it was crystal clear, and whoever Spoon's sound team are, they did a fantastic job. You could hear every instrument play every note, and Britt Daniel's voice sounded wonderful.

The State Theater in itself is a wonderful place to see live music, and although it's not exceptionally old, it does have a wonderful old style touch to it.
Spoon opened things up with 'Hot Thoughts' and continued a classic set list which included hits like 'Don't You Evah',  'Do You' and of course 'The Underdog,' which the band played another new version of the tune. They also included a nice touch to the setlist by adding 'Pink Up,' the bands first ever time playing the song in the U.S.

Later on, Britt Daniel's explained to the crowd that it was great to be back in Portland and have the opening local group play. The last time they were at the State Theater in Maine, they heard an actual Spoon cover band was playing next door and quickly finished the show to see them play. Spoon invited the group to open up for them for this show, which was an interesting side effect of the evening.

Although Spoon only played for a short amount of time with just an hour and a half's performance, they punched in a bunch of classic songs that everyone enjoyed.
It was a concert well worth attending, and The New Pornographers are a fantastic group to see live no matter where they are.

A-

Spoon's Setlist Saturday, July 22 and State Theater
1) Hot Thoughts
2) Inside Out
3) I Turn my Camera On
4) Rent I pay
5) First Caress
6) Everything its at Once
7) Don't you Evah
8) Do you
9) Via Kannela
10) I Ain't the One
11) Anything You Want
12) Can I sit next to you
13) Don't Make me a Target
14) The Underdog
15) Rainy Taxi
16) Black Like Me
Encore:
17) Pink Up (First time in U.S.)
18) My Mathematical Mind
19) Got Nuffin
20) DO I have to Talk you into it

All Photos taken by Cadyn Cutschall
Opening Band:

The New Pornographers:

Spoon: