{"id":5235,"date":"2019-08-25T18:54:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T23:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=5235"},"modified":"2019-12-17T20:11:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T01:11:01","slug":"review-beck-cage-the-elephant-spoon-sunflower-bean-xfinity-center-8-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2019\/08\/25\/review-beck-cage-the-elephant-spoon-sunflower-bean-xfinity-center-8-16\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Beck, Cage the Elephant, Spoon, Sunflower Bean @ Xfinity Center 8\/15"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Moura<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An all-star lineup rocked the Xfinity Center this past Thursday evening, with rule-breaking, bending, and sometimes back-bending bands Sunflower Bean, Spoon, Cage the Elephant, and Beck. Talk about a rock show.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sunflower Bean, indie rockers from New York City, took the stage first, playing a short but all shots fired set stemming from classics like \u201cEasier Said\u201d and \u201cI Was A Fool,\u201d to the self-empowering \u201cKing of the Dudes,\u201d off their new EP of the same name. Julia Cumming, versatile vocalist, bassist, and fashionista, managed to actually get some parents off their seats, while fans watched in awe of Nick Kivlen\u2019s jarring yet sensuous guitar work. Touring member, formerly of The Lemon Twigs, keyboard slayer Danny Ayala, quite literally picked up and shred his keyboard as if it was a guitar. Sunflower Bean reminded the audience that some good ole classic rock is forever, far-reaching, and fearless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up on the marquee was Spoon, iconic Texan band comprised of lead singer Britt Daniel, guitar wielding alongside Gerardo Larios and Alex Fishel, who also handles keys, slung together by Jim Eno, drummer. They played a set matching the vitality and velocity of their new greatest hits album, <\/span>Everything Hits at Once. <\/span><\/i>Sliding right into the tour debut of \u201cDo I Have To Talk You Into It,\u201d with a performance as sultry and sly as the lyrics, \u201cThey say I better to seal you up in wax \/ So that you\u2019re never going to bite me back.\u201d Long-time Spoon fans, adorning their t-shirts from the past 20 years or so, sang along feverishly to classics \u201cThe Underdog,\u201d \u201cYou Got Yr. Cherry Bomb,\u201d and personal favorite, \u201cI Turn My Camera On.\u201d Ending with \u201cRent I Pay,\u201d the band working in tow with the setting sun, the crowd watched as Spoon salaciously strut to the beat of their own style of classic, careless, yet courageous rock and roll.<\/span><\/p>\n

Co-headliners Cage the Elephant left nothing to be desired, charging ahead full-steam with an all-encompassing musical experience, including flames, fog, and a fiery-spirited Matt Schultz stumbling ever so graciously onto the stage wearing a full-face mask and an array of hats. The spectacle mirrored the disarray of their latest album, <\/span>Social Cues<\/span><\/i>, including setlist finalists, \u201cHouse of Glass,\u201d \u201cBroken Boy,\u201d and \u201cTokyo Smoke.\u201d If Schultz stage antics wasn\u2019t entertaining enough, combined with the nonchalance of the remaining bassist, guitarist, and drummer, there was the dreamy high school nostalgia of classic Cage tunes, most notably \u201cCigarette Daydreams,\u201d where it seemed to be a cathartic release for both Shultz and audience, as if it was an exchange of grief and love between artist and listener, one of the best things about rock music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Beck took the stage, almost simulating some kind of anti-Lil Nas X, raised up high on a pedestal strumming some distorted twang, ringing through the ampitheater, until suddenly the smash hit of forever, \u201cLoser,\u201d started simultaneously. As someone with not much knowledge about Beck other than this tune, it was pleasantly surprising to find out, throughout the set, that I actually knew most of the songs played. I think that\u2019s the genius of Beck Hansen. He\u2019s the king of turning an alternative idea into an insanely marketable pop song, without losing any of its unique charm or hustle. His band is full of insane players, including guitarist Jason Falker who maintained a cheesy grin throughout the entirety of the show, looking to have had just as much fun as the adoring middle aged women, who I completely identify with, dancing around to classics like \u201cDebra,\u201d \u201cWow,\u201d and two different versions of \u201cWhere It\u2019s At.\u201d If you came to the Night Running tour expecting anything less than a circus of rock legends and misfits, you came to the wrong show.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Moura   An all-star lineup rocked the Xfinity Center this past Thursday evening, with rule-breaking, bending, and sometimes back-bending bands Sunflower Bean, Spoon, Cage the Elephant, and Beck. Talk about a rock show. Sunflower Bean, indie rockers from New York City, took the stage first, playing a short but all shots fired set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525],"tags":[863,866,865,31,864,393,867],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5235"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5242,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5235\/revisions\/5242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}