Tampa’s an easy town to grow attached to, especially if you’re Britt Daniel. The Spoon frontman rattled off a couple songs (“Do I Have to Talk You Into It,” “The Way We Get By") before professing his affections.
“I decided last night that night I love this town,” he said before covering “Isolation” from John Lennon. The band apparently spent the night before bowling ‘round these parts, drinking classic margaritas and reminiscing on its last trip to the 813.
“Y’all remember that Gasparilla?” he asked, referencing a 2017 set at Gasparilla Music Festival. “We went to The Hub afterwards. That was a good one.”
The 11,000 who made it out to MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre on Thursday had a memorable night, too.
Daniel and his Texas-based outfit were clinical, consummate professionals during their 11-song set that, at one time, found Daniel stalking the stage, almost Prince-like, as synthesizers washed the crowd during “Inside Out.”
Cage The Elephant followed, and delivered another signature, don’t-you-dare-look-away, 19-song set that found frontman Matt Schultz slowly undressing in between songs before he eventually lost the last of his layers (pantyhose) during “Shake Me Down.” Schultz, who’d changed into red shorties by the end of his set, amazingly, had even more left in the tank after the 70-minute performance and made his way to the edge of the lawn where he crowd-walked and did handstands as the venue sang along to “We Are The Champions.” Schultz, being escorted by security, even greeted a baby on the way back to the stage.
Cage the Elephant is a tough act for anyone to follow, but Beck Hansen was up for the task. The 49-year-old Los Angeles songwriter and musical chameleon roped in fans by opening his performance with the slide guitar riff of his 1994 megahit “Loser” before peppering newer material like 2017’s “Up All Night” in with older funkified (“Guero”) electro-pop (“Girl”) and East L.A. funk (“Mixed Business”).
Beck — who was playing his first Florida shows in more than a decade — even dipped into a medley of Midnite Vultures highlight “Debra” and Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” plus one, seemingly unplanned Sea Change track (a solo electric run through “Lost Cause,” which he dedicated to someone in the crowd near stage left). Folks looking for that more introspective, sensitive Beck (a la "The Golden Age") left the shed disappointed, but the summer tour supporting a joint single with Cage the Elephant wasn’t meant for soul-searching.
Thursday night’ show was supposed to be a party. Kudos to New York’s Sunflower Bean for kicking it off with a chunky 20-minute set and props to the crowd for sticking it out for a five-hour concert that felt like a mini music-festival. And if you needed to know if the jaunt was memorable for Beck and his supporting acts, all you had to do was watch them all together onstage during an extended run through “Where It’s At” that featured a mini-medley of the Rolling Stones, Chic and Elvis Costello.
“Our last show is tomorrow,” Beck said before the ensemble formed a line and shimmied offstage. “I’m gonna miss them.”
Come back to Tampa soon, then Beck. As you and Spoon found out on Thursday, we’re a can’t lose.
Listen to a playlist of songs from the show via Spotify.
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This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 5, 2019.