Photo: Chris Birkinshaw
October 10 1997: Spiritualized are playing a sell out gig at the Royal Albert Hall. Frontman Jason Pierce, aka J Spaceman, is about to play an impassioned rendition of Spacemen 3 classic ‘Walking With Jesus’, a plaintive paean to life’s fleeting second chances. Before a note is played, an overexcited heckler shouts at Pierce, “why are you here?” The peculiar remark ended up on the band's seminal 'Royal Albert Hall' live album when it came out the following year. Move forward a decade, and about two miles down the road, and the question now is - how are you still here?
Jason Pierce is a man who revels in the languid majesty of songs about heaven, forgiveness and salvation. Hinging on a holy trinity of God, Love and Drugs, Spiritualized’s gospel tinged space rock has earned plaudits that regularly lead followers to claim they’re the greatest band in the known universe. In 2005, Pierce nearly died of double pneumonia. So debilitating was his advanced periorbita cellulitus that Pierce's heart stopped and he was clinically dead. Twice. But if the illness nearly stole one of the UK’s most gifted songwriters, his return has added an inescapable urgency to a back catalogue already fixated with life's big questions. Searching for putative subtexts in Pierce’s new work is now unavoidable.
Tonight, Pierce is nearing the end of a short European tour, dubbed Spiritualized Acoustic Mainlines, it features three gospel singers, a string quartet, keyboardist and Pierce on acoustic guitar. It’s with Pierce’s near death experience in mind, that tonight’s gig offers something of a curious celebration. His welcome return is tempered with hushed tones, restraint, sombre reflection and an almost confessional feel to Pierce’s new material. Gone are the reams of feedback-drenched hits and prog jazz noise-outs for which he’s famed.
But if there are worries Pierce’s brush with death has mellowed his outlook, it’s quickly dispelled with set opener ‘Sitting On Fire’, one of a handful of fantastic new tracks played tonight. “So hard to fight when you’re losing,” Pierce wails with a resigned, magnetic presence. Pierce, who sits side on to the audience for the entire gig, flits between the flawless neo-gospel of ‘Cool Waves’, a standout moment from ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’, to the portent and panic of new tracks ‘Amen’ and ‘Death Take Your Fiddle’. The latter an ominous ode of despair about “drinking yourself into a coma,” the former poignantly pleads, “I don’t wanna die lord.”
But just when Pierce appears to back himself into a corner, he unleashes ‘Soul On Fire’. Ostensibly about Mrs Spaceman, its soaring chorus finds Pierce with, “a hurricane inside my veins and I want to stay forever.” Despite the high watermark of the new material, it’s the mid-set trio of old songs that steal the thunder. A triumphant ‘Walking With Jesus’, is followed by ‘Feel So Sad’ and ‘All of My Tears’ satisfies the faithful, before ‘Broken Heart’ plunges everyone into the depths of despair. By the time ‘Anything More’ drifts into ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’, Pierce is flying. Swirling strings and three gospel singers segue into Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’. It’s followed by ‘I Think I’m In Love’, which draws the largest cheer of the night.
Ten years on from Spiritualized’s seminal, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen…’, Pierce is at a strange juncture. Despite an obvious creative dip after the orchestral excess of 'Let It Come Down', ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’s…’ whirling 70 minutes of confusion, loss and unrestrained euphoria are showing signs of revival. Along with Radiohead's 'OK Computer' and The Verve's 'Urban Hymns', 'Ladies and Gentlemen…' formed a trio of era defining albums captured the desolation and acceptance that comes from many of modern life's near-impossible situations.
Whether Pierce's brush with death has given him a new outlook only he knows, but his reticence is well known. Strangely, it's the night's only cover that gives the best clue yet. A sublime version of folk rock troubadour Daniel Johnston's 'True Love Will Find You In The End' draws misty-eyes as far as the back rows. "Don't be sad I know you will, but don't give up until true love finds you in the end." It's good to have you back Jason.
Setlist:
Sitting On Fire
Lord Let It Rain On Me
True Love Will Find You In The End
Cool Waves
Amen
Soul On Fire
Walking With Jesus
Death Take Your Fiddle
Going Down Slow
All Of My Tears
Feel So Sad
Stop Your Crying
Anything More/Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Broken Heart
Baby I’m Just A Fool
Goodnight, Goodnight
Think I’m In Love
Lord Can You Here Me
Oh Happy Day
