Over their three decades, Spoon have built a fervent following by consistently cranking out solid-to-spectacular rock tunes over their nine studio albums. They spoiled us two years ago by playing shows just a couple months apart at The Rave in Milwaukee and The Sylvee in Madison, and this week they booked a return trip to The Rave with a Sunday show set for Sept. 8.
The Texas quintet already had a tour schedule set up for the closing weeks of summer, starting with a West Coast swing in early August and wrapping up with a late-September appearance at Riot Fest in Illinois. They snuck the Milwaukee show into a small Midwest gap, along with an appearance at Grand Rapids Riverfest in Minnesota on Sept. 7.
Spoon’s last proper studio LP is Lucifer on the Sofa, which got the spotlight treatment when they were last here in 2022. Since then, they’ve released the remixed Lucifer on the Moon and — most recently — the Memory Dust EP almost exactly a year ago.
As previously noted, Spoon sit in the elite category of rock bands because of their ability to steadily build staying power. Their run of quality albums (I would argue nine straight starting with 1998’s A Series of Sneaks and going all the way through Lucifer) is an incredible feat of songcraft demonstrating their ability to invent and reinvent while still retaining a core “Spoon” sound.
This has nothing to do with my effusive praise, but they’ve also been nice enough to visit Studio Milwaukee on occasion. That includes a special stop in July of 2022 on the way to Madison to make up for an understandable last-second cancellation a few months before so frontman Britt Daniel could rest his voice for their show at The Rave.
We’ll see if we can snag them for another Studio Milwaukee Session, but for now you can count on them being back at The Rave on Sept. 8. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday, June 28, at the venue’s box office and online.