Spiritualized Levitates Turner Hall

by

On Tuesday night at Turner Hall Ballroom, Spiritualized set their controls for the heart of the sun. Near the end of the concert Jason Pierce sang “I’ll just take my time.” It could have been the evening’s mantra as easily as that of the band’s career.

Pierce and his eight-piece band trafficked in both outer space and inner space, parlaying imagination and emotion in equal measure. That fully half of the 16-song set came from the group’s two most-recent albums demonstrated a confidence in not resting on one’s laurels.

Appropriately by the third song, the audience’s collective third eye opened in the center of their forehead. This was slow-building music that moved from a whispered prayer to the rich, majestic fury of a Gospel choir, with songs rising to maelstroms then dissipating like fog, as evidenced by the hypnotic, nagging riff of “I’m Coming Home Again.”

The music was a clinic in patience, with slide and wah-wah guitars making way for the featherbed of a Hammond organ, pulsing bass and heart-beating drums. Only “I’m Your Man” featured what could be described as a blazing guitar solo. Seizure-inducing strobes and a dripping light show were simply icing on the cake.

Set up in a semi-circle with Pierce seated at stage left, a trio of vocalists, drummer, bassist and keyboardist led to a pair of guitarists facing the bandleader from across the stage.

If you witnessed the concert performance as a journey, by the end of the evening you felt challenged, transported and ultimately comforted. On “Best Thing You Never Had (The D Song),” Pierce sang with a weary voice reminiscent of fellow space traveler Peter Perrett, riding a beat and hypnotic bassline in league with the best vintage German space psychedelic rock.

To steal from Aristotle, taken as individual pieces the evening was made up of building blocks, with whole ultimately being greater than the sum of its parts.

Friends of the Shepherd

Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly magazine.

LEARN MORE