They have their purely indie success stories in common. They've operated with surprisingly few frills and outlasted trendier competitors over the years. They've been messed with by the corporate music business and didn't fold.
They even both dressed all in black Saturday.
Aside from one of the dozens of local bands that can sell out the place, First Avenue could not have wound up with a much more fitting group to mark its 40th birthday than Spoon.
The cultishly popular and jaggedly explosive quartet from Austin, Texas, played its second of two sold-out shows Saturday, 40 years to the day after Joe Cocker opened up Minneapolis' landmark rock club. For both band and venue, it was pretty clear things have never been better.
Spoon has always been a subtle rock act that does a lot with a little, going back to when it was still a trio and frontman Britt Daniel still only played a distorted acoustic guitar.
With Jamie Levinson of White Rabbits added as a second percussionist for its new tour behind album No. 7 "Transference," the band has grown to a five-piece -- or maybe just 4 1/2, since Levinson played on less than half of the songs. Either way, Spoon's minimalist formula remains intact and utterly enticing.
A majority of the 23 songs in its 95-minute set Saturday built around rather simple but infectious rhythmic hooks. They start with drummer Jim Eno's choppy but steady patterns and extend to Daniel's snarling, sometimes stuttering vocals and keyboardist Eric Harvey's plunky parts.
"I Turn My Camera On" and the oldie "Jonathan Fisk" -- the second and third songs of the night, respectively -- were among the most repetitive and yet rapturous of the night. Encore highlights "I Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" and "Utilitarian" came off with a similar, steady bounce. Even "The Ghost of You Lingers" maintained a monotone, pulsating charm despite having no guitar and only waves of drums.
