Review: Indie Rockers Spoon Help Celebrate Belly Up’s 50th with Two-Night Stint

Austin-based indie-rock band Spoon returned to the Belly Up on Aug. 4-5 for a two-night stint, celebrating the San Diego music institution’s 50th anniversary. The band, which last performed here over two years ago, easily sold out both nights at the 600-capacity club.

“Their first time at the club was 2022 out of the pandemic, which was also a really special time for a show like this,” said Belly Up Entertainment President Chris Goldsmith. “They had a great experience and liked the idea of coming back here to help us celebrate!”

And what a celebration it was.

Spoon kicked off their first night with the slow-building “Held,” quickly followed by “Wild” and fan-favorite “I Turn My Camera On,” after which frontman Britt Daniel welcomed the Solana Beach crowd and shared that this was the band’s first gig since December.  

Despite the hiatus, the five-piece sounded as tight as ever, rolling through their impressive catalog of alternative rock dating back to their 1996 debut Telephono. Daniel’s signature raspy vocals took center stage on tunes such as “Me and the Bean” and “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb,” but he didn’t waste too much time on between-song banter; instead, like the true technician he is, he let the music do the talking.

True to their no-nonsense reputation, Spoon’s set was devoid of ostentatious solos, but the night did afford some flourishes here and there, such as when drummer Jim Eno teased the crowd with his intro to “The Underdog” and Alex Fischel seemed to fight with his guitar on several songs, but he was clearly winning by the sound of it. 

As a frontman, Daniel leans toward subdued. The most you might get from him is strumming his guitar overhead or pointing to a section of the crowd to illicit cheers. However, on the first night, the singer-guitarist dedicated no less than three songs to patrons in the wall-to-wall crowd, leaving some to wonder if he really had that many friends in the house or if fans somehow earned the shout-outs. 

The second night was similar to the first. Also running around 90 minutes, the setlist was about two-thirds the same. While it included some stellar tracks this writer would have loved to hear the first night — like “Don’t You Evah” and “Way We Get By” — those who attended night one were treated to an unexpected, reverent cover of Tom Petty’s “A Face in the Crowd” during the encore. 

In addition to Belly Up’s milestone, Spoon was celebrating an anniversary of their own. Daniel announced the band was releasing a special reissue of their 2014 album They Want My Soul “in about three hours,” matching the original Aug. 5 release date 10 years ago. Commemorating the Deluxe More Soul Edition — which features an additional hour of bonus material, including 11 demos and alternate versions — the band performed several tracks from the album, including “Inside Out” and an acoustic version of “Do You.”

Belly Up’s 50^th Anniversary celebration continues through the fall, with upcoming performances from Charlie Musselwhite with Kid Ramos (Aug. 22), Thievery Corporation (Sept. 2), The Wallflowers (Sept. 30 & Oct. 4), and Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals (Oct. 22-23), among many others.

Goldsmith said Belly Up has a special connection with each of the bands participating in this year’s celebration. “All of them are cool to us in their own way — some for nostalgia, some because it’s a cool pairing of bands that have played here before but never together, and then some because they could be playing a bigger venue but wanted to join the party…but the public buzz in the larger community is super strong when something like this happens.” 

Donovan Roche, a San Diego-based writer and editor, has covered the music, entertainment and arts scene for more than 30 years. Send your story ideas to droche17@cox.net.