Concert Review: Built to Spill at Saturn

Built to Spill Review

Thirty long years ago, a young man by the name of Doug Martsch, who had been playing with the band Treepeople, decided to form a new group called Built to Spill in his home state of Idaho. Since then, Doug and an ever-evolving cast of members have cemented Built to Spill into the indie-rock Mt. Rushmore, with iconic album after iconic album. On September 16, I was able to see Doug in the flesh for the first time, performing the band’s latest record titled When the Wind Forgets Your Name at Saturn in Birmingham. Much like my latest Black Midi review, I will briefly touch on the new material whilst focusing more on the live show. 

Built to Spill’s new record is their 9th Studio album, not counting their most recent record prior to this year, which was a cover album dedicated to the works of iconic outsider-music mastermind, Daniel Johnston. Currently, Doug is touring with only two other members, Melanie Radford (bass) and Teresa Esquerra (drums), but that “wall of sound” is still certainly achieved, both in studio and live. Let me first say that When the Wind Forgets Your Name is an excellent record. Likely my favorite album from the band since their 2009 LP titled There Is No Enemy, Doug and company are sticking to that classic, tremolo-heavy pop-rock that he has slowly mastered for the past few decades. Standout tracks include “Elements,” “Alright,” “Spiderweb,” and the opening track titled “Gonna Lose,” which the band released as the debut single. As I mentioned before, I will not be taking an in depth look at each track, but the record maintains overall themes pertaining to nature, love, and self-acceptance. 

Now, for the show, I must begin by giving a shoutout to the first of two opening acts, Oruã. A newer band out of Rio de Janeiro, led by Lê Almeida (who briefly drummed for Built to Spill). Nonetheless, I was completely blown away by their set. Impressively loud, acid-jazz infused rock, combining elements of psychadelia and krautrock, Oruã is a group of four; with Almeida on lead vocals and guitar, a bassist, synth-keyboard, and a hell of a drummer, who was kind enough to give me a setlist after the closing track. Doug and his wife even enjoyed the show from the crowd, ten feet from me. The next group, the French Tips, share Idaho roots with Doug, and have been around for about 5 years. The trio consists of Angela Heileson (vocals, drums), Rachel Couch (vocals, guitar, bass) and Ivy Merrell (vocals, bass, guitar), and their set was a nice change of pace from the opening act. Offering elements of pop, punk, surf-rock, and disco, they were an excellent merger between Oruã and the main act. 

Now, after almost two hours of great music, Doug and company joined the stage. The “happy birthday” chants rained down all night, as Doug turned 53 the day of. The band opened with “Fool’s Gold,” one of the staple tracks on the new album. Next was “Center of the Universe,” off the iconic 1999 record Keep It like a Secret. The third track, "Three Years Ago Today," was a shocker, as Doug reached way down into his bag of deep cuts to play the second track off the debut, 1993 record, Ultimate Alternative Wavers. It honestly took me a few measures to be sure that’s what they were playing, as I had no idea the band still performed those songs. This received a very warm round of applause, considering most of ~300 people filling Saturn that night appeared to be long time fans. Doug broke the silence by playing the iconic intro riff to legendary Rush song “Tom Sawyer,” which I was utterly stunned to hear at that moment, and then seamlessly transitioned into another new track, the aforementioned “Gonna Lose.”  

Next, the band revisited another classic, “Dystopian Dream Girl,” followed by “Understood” from the new LP. The setlist was excellently organized, as it can become tiresome and predictable when bands segregate the set by new songs and old songs. Built to Spill had an excellent blend of both, without having to stark of a contrast between the overall tone from song to song. The band repeated this trend, playing an old song, “Stop the Show,” off my personal favorite album released in 1997 titled Perfect from Now On, followed by “Spiderweb.” After this, the band was done with new songs, and played 5 classics, beginning with “Living Zoo,” for which bassist Melanie Radford took over lead vocals. This song features some of the most creative and impressive guitar playing from Doug, and was another one that I did not expect to hear. Radford led another song, “Trimmed and Burning,” and then Doug took back over on “Life’s a Dream,” a soft, cerebral ballad with an intense solo from There Is No Enemy. This is one of my all-time favorite guitar solos, and it certainly sounded just as good live. Following this, the band played one of the iconic songs from the bands catalogue, “I Would Hurt a Fly.” This slow paced, hypnotic classic earned an intense, well-deserved crowd reaction, and transitioned well into the final track on the setlist, a cover of “Virginia Reel Around The Fountain,” from the second album of notorious Doug Martsch side project The Halo Benders. This little known 90s venture for Doug, working with Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson, only had 3 albums, but for many fans of Built to Spill, these albums feel like a part of the main band's discography. After an excellent closing track, the band walked off, and was immediately met with encore chants. 

They quickly returned, and the passionate fans were rewarded with a performance of arguably the bands most iconic song, “Goin’ Against Your Mind.” This 8-minute, catchy banger had the whole room dancing, and even inspired the members of the opening bands to return to the stage, arm in arm with some of the band’s crew, wearing massive animal heads. Seriously. They also brought balloons, champagne, and turned the whole venue into some sort of terrifyingly beautiful children’s birthday party, all in Doug’s honor. He continued to perform the track, surprisingly accurate to the studio version I might add, whilst remaining as serious as possible considering the absolute mayhem taking place behind him. In all honesty, the improvised celebration is analogous to the band itself: just a couple of extremely talented, exciting musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously, fronted by an indie-rock mastermind, who can hardly help but laugh. Happy birthday, Doug, and thanks for the 35 years of outstanding records.