Spiritualized at the Wedgewood Rooms Southsea Tuesday 14th October 2008.

I arrived in Southsea at about 7:30 and almost immediately was greeted by the sight of Jason Pierce and some other guys walking up and down Albert Road looking for somewhere to eat. I just headed to the pub and got a pint of London Pride.

My mate, who had never seen them before, turned up a few minutes later and after a second beer we headed down the road to the venue.

When we got there the support act (The Shortwave Set) was on, so we watched the end of their set, which was quite enjoyable.

After about a thirty minute wait, the lights went down and Spiritualized happened. They had been supposed to play the Pyramids, which is a bigger venue, so their PA, lighting rig, etc., was a bit over the top for the ‘Wedge’, but that just meant that they were more powerful than they might have otherwise been. A lot of the set was from the new album, but there were quite a few older tracks thrown in, covering their entire career.

For me the highlights were I think I’m in love, Soul on Fire, Death take your fiddle and a blistering Come Together. Jason took his usual place far right of stage; facing the band and as usual reminded me of Sam the Eagle from the Muppets (my wife was the first to notice this). There were two gospel type backing singers as well as the two guitar, bass, drums and keyboard line up of the band.

They were on stage for about an hour and three quarters and were stunning for every second of it.

Glad to read such a positive review. :)

The band and especially their latest album which I think is a return to form after the rather disappointing "Amazing Grace" got a lot of stick at a recent poll. I've seen some impressive footage from the Benicàssim Festival in July, but of course it's not comparable to being there. The last time I directly experienced Spiritualized onstage must already have been at least a decade ago.