WILMINGTON — It took 10 albums over an almost three-decade career for Austin, Texas, indie rockers Spoon to finally make its way to Wilmington’s Greenfield Lake Amphitheater on Apr. 28.
“How have we never been here before?” the band asked the promoter of the 1,000-seat amphitheater back stage.
Thursday’s sold-out show came with a supersized sound system — the amphitheater was coming off of two days of jamband String Cheese Incident concerts. Spoon’s crystal clear performance resonated with fans, according to MoonFrog Media photographer Tom Dorgan.
“The band showed a lot of energy and sounded great,” he said. Dorgan was there to capture the experience for Port City Daily. “It was a multigenerational audience, for sure, with everyone having a blast.”
Made up of Britt Daniel, Jim Eno, Alex Fischel, Gerardo Larios, and Ben Trokan, the band opened the 16-song set with “Held,” a song by Bill Callahan’s Smog, another Texas indie act. The song appears on Spoon’s latest album, “Lucifer On The Sofa” (Matador Records), released in February. The first single from the album, “Wild,” also made its way to set. Yet, there were plenty of throwbacks to some of the band’s earlier works — “The Beast and the Dragon, Adored” and “My Mathematical Mind” (“Gimme Fiction”), “Jonathan Fisk” (“Kill the Moonlight”), and “Don’t You Evah” (“Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”).
Spoon setlist from Greenfield Lake Amphitheater on Apr. 28. (Photo by Tom Dorgan/MoonFrog Media)
American singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy was supposed to open the show, but a last-minute change welcomed artist Nicole Atkins to the stage instead. Though Atkins normally plays with a full band, she performed solo — and highlighted another of her talents, as an illustrator. Atkins studied art at UNC Charlotte, where she got her start in music, and held a slow-dance contest during her set for the audience to win one of her artworks.
“She pulled out a drawing she did of Ted Danson,” Dorgan detailed. “The picture is a caricature of Ted Danson slow dancing and says ‘Congratulations on wining the Ted Danson Slow Dance Award.'”
The award went to a mother and daughter.
Below are photos from both shows, courtesy of Tom Dorgan of MoonFrog Media.
Spoon
Held (Smog cover)
Don’t You Evah
Do You
The Beast and Dragon, Adored
Wild
Don’t Make Me a Target
My Mathematical Mind
Do I Have to Talk You Into It
The Underdog
My Babe
I Summon You
Lucifer on the Sofa
On the Radio
Inside Out
I Turn My Camera On
Jonathon Fisk
Nicole Atkins
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