August 23, 2007
Spoon Reads Blogs, Wants To Make You Happy
There was quite a bit of discontent going on in the comments section over our post yesterday regarding Spoon's canceled 9:30 Club shows. Imagine our surprise when the band's front man, Britt Daniel, graciously added his voice to the discussion to let us know what happened.
Hi guysI first heard about this situation last week while we were traveling in Europe. There was some misunderstanding on my part from the beginning...I was told that the promoter of our show was promoting a Shins show as well and that all parties involved did not want for Spoon to be going up against the Shins on the same Monday night. Spoon was asked would we be ok with getting on the bill with the Shins instead but not as a typical opener slot, we'd have a full set time. We're fans of the Shins, and since this was coming from the promoter of our own show I figured this would be best. What I hadn't understood at the time was that by combining the Monday night show of both bands into such a big venue, Spoon would also be giving up its Tuesday night show. This is my fault. If I had thought about it a little more carefully I would have realized this would be the case because it's standard. In order to get as many tickets sold for the bigger show as possible, they have to eliminate the option of what was to be our second DC show. Usually without exception, an opening band cannot put its own smaller show on sale in the same city until the bigger show sells out. The promoter / band may have been hoping to do the second show all along but they need to see that the first one's going to sell through before they can do it.
So, for all of this I apologize. Once I did realize there was no Tuesday night 930 club show I was like, "fuck!"
We've tried to make sure that there are decent options for those who had already bought tickets -- as I understand it you can transfer your ticket from the 930 to the new venue for free (granted, it's on the lawn), or you can use a 930 ticket to get a seated ticket for less than it normally would have cost, or you can just get a full rebate. But I do understand some people just prefer smaller-venue shows to bigger ones -- this is why we played so many small-room shows this year (like the Mohawk in Austin, Doug Fir in Portland, Schubas in Chicago, the Bowery in New York, Cafe Du Norde and Popscene in SF, the MFA in Boston to name a few of em) when we could have gone for much more money in much bigger rooms. Since I realized both 9:30 shows were out of the picture , I've been trying to find out if there are any options for some kind of smaller show in the area and if something is possible up we'll of course announce that.
thanks
Britt Daniel
Seems like there's no malice or greediness on the band's part here, and no actual intent to screw anyone over. It's nice to know that the bands we spend so much time worrying about want to be part of the dialog. So thanks for stopping by, Britt.
|
should I hang onto my ticket for the 23rd just in case? :) *crossing fingers*
That makes me like Spoon even more than I already did (owner of two albums and soon to be a third), whether people think they're crap live or not! Well played, frontman.
- the english major
Awesome to see that. Good for you Spoon.
play the black cat... i dare you, spoon!
Classy.
I appreciate Britt explaining the situation, but I'm still not going to Merriweather Post.
that was totally decent of him.
Indeed it was decent of him. Black Cat would be crazy great for a Spoon show. It'd sell out in minutes.
If that is indeed a genuine post (it isn't notarized), they're still not going to dick over IMP and play another local show that week. I'd expect they'll try and fit in a Bmore show sometime soon or something.
Why do rock band's these days (and in recent years) have such stupid names?
Guest 10, how is Led Zeppelin or Badfinger any less stupid than Spoon? Classic rock names become part of our general vocabulary but thats the only reason they sound normal.
granted, Chumbawumba was stupid.
Even though I'm not thrilled about the venue, it is still cool that I'll get to see both Spoon and the Shins. But what happened to the Ponys?? I was looking forward to seeing them too since I missed their show in July.
Thoughtful response by Mr. Daniel. Excellent of him to personally comment on the situation. I second that motion: Spoon at Black Cat.
If there is a make up show, it better be in D.C. and not Baltimore. Spoon haven't played D.C. behind their new record and they only played one D.C. show behind their last record even though they did two separate national tours.
yes...play the black cat. but make sure i find out about it before all the tickets sell out in 2 seconds!
Indeed Britt is a stand-up guy.
I was totally looking forward to the 9:30 shows, as I missed Spoon last time round. Alas, no way am I heading out to MPP. (Sorry Britt! Still love you man.) Black Cat, Black Cat.
Faith - former Austinite, always Spoon fan