Photo Gallery of Spiritualized at Wonder Ballroom in Portland (April 09, 2013)
I wasn't planning to write a review, and this is not words about what happened at the Spiritualized show, but rather an irrepressible urge to purge an impression.
Though the forecast anticipated precipitation, the sky didn’t cry on an April night in Portland. But I could feel an indefatigable melancholy seizing my nerves as Jason Pierce and Co. performed gospel and blues inspired atmospheric rock. Perhaps, I was thinking of Pierce’s brush with death... Looking light years younger than his 47 earthly years, the man once known as Spaceman, sang and played the guitar, seated through the entire set. His eyes masked by the impenetrable sunglasses that has become part of the body, rather than an accessory. At certain intersection of lights, I could tell that the Brit’s eyes were serene and shut; yet, I couldn’t be certain. Trying to see through those dark plastics held my fascination as much as the soulful sound barriers emanating from the subdued stage. I thought Pierce cracked a slight smile at one point - a sign to let me know everything is the way it should be and will be alright. Or was it a trick of the light? It’s as if this spaceman, who technically died twice in 2005, wasn’t really there - the spirit enveloping us with his essence, controlling the physical representation of Pierce. Though the strange sorrow permeates as I write this, solace holds me tight in its arms.