When Spiritualized last rolled into town in 2008, I wrote into Drum Media expressing how disappointed I was when the punters were noisily talking over some of the quieter and personal passages and suggested the band next played our Sydney Opera House.
Little did I realise someone was listening.
As part of the Sydney Vivid Festival, Spiritualized played their 1997 magnum opus "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" in all its glory on the 27th and 28th of May at the Sydney Opera House.
Eagerly anticipating the concert, I hopped online to read up on what's in store for us on the night.Billed as an Australian Exclusive with 30 on stage including strings, brass and a gospel choir, I knew this was no ordinary night.
Seated upstairs, there may have been a technical glitch in that the sound seemed distant and wasn't fixed till track three "I Think I'm in Love".
The beefed-up renditions gave the tracks new life and would hopefully show up as a "live" DVD in the near future. Frontman Jason Pierce did little to engage the crowd, letting the music speak for itself. Full swells of strings, brass stabs, rousing choir and guitar feedback into impenetrable walls of sound were countered by singular voice / acoustic strum. The barrage that was "Electricity" was brought into another realm as hundreds (surely!) of strobe lights pulsed to great effect - I felt almost transported into another dimension or was that an epileptic seizure??
Kidding aside, I counted three bouts of goose-bumps and moments of pure space-floating. No easy feat!
Singular non-album encore "Out of Sight" brought the night to a close as we drifted into the beautiful harbour surrounds lit up by various colouful Vivid installations. Magical.
... and still reeling. 9.3/10
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