Houston, did we have a problem?
Jason “Spaceman” Pierce, presenting his acclaimed 1997 masterpiece, “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space,” hit the retro rockets early at Radio City Music Hall on Friday.
At this performance of that album about losing love, the lights dimmed, drums hammered and strains of guitar teased the audience. The curtain rose to about 14 feet and dropped, like a rock. For the next moments the crew’s confusions were broadcast over the PA and then silence . . . until a kid in the balcony shouted, “Do it!”
He did. From then on Spaceman, the leader and only permanent member of Spiritualized, straightened up and flew right as he fronted this 2010 edition of the band for the only US performance of this important and influential alt-rock record. False starts aside, this song-for-song performance of “Ladies and Gentlemen . . . ” was made grand by arrangements for a rock band backed by choir as well as orchestral strings and horns.
During solo interludes the melodies were pretty, and when the full ensemble played and sang together you felt the power. There were also a few times the music became tedious: when the band purposely created a cacophony of noise-rock.
The intent of the wall of sound, while unsettling, was to create moods of despair and anger in the music. It worked to its annoying best on the pleading song “Stay With Me” and the 20-minute album epic “Cop Shoot Cop.”
The music was especially magnificent when Pierce’s flat gravelly vocals were supported by his gospel choir as on the opening title track that eventually segued into “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” made famous by Elvis Presley. Pierce’s bond with the choir was so strong, for the entire show he performed from stage left with them, rather than from center stage.
The choir was fantastic, always adding depth to Spaceman’s gruff vocals. This blend was most inspired during the encore, for which they covered the gospel classic “Oh Happy Day.”
That international 1967 hit, by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, paid tribute to Walter Hawkins, the group’s lead singer who died July 11. The joy of that hymn also seemed to give closure to Pierce’s dark opus.
