1. Having seen two excellent Built to Spill shows at the Bunkhouse in the past 18 months, I'm hoping the band's third gig at the Downtown venue will deliver something different tonight, even if it's just a setlist shakeup. Last time the Boise indie veterans stopped by, new album Untethered Moon had been out a mere two days, so it wasn’t a shock we got only three songs—two early singles and one other cut—from that disc, which would later rank among my 10 favorite albums of 2015. Tonight, I'm confident, we'll get more.
2. Something's indeed different, and it goes way beyond the setlist. For all six previous Vegas performances (and all nine Built to Spill shows I’ve seen anywhere prior to this), BTS has been a five-piece. But tonight, the band’s a trio, with leader Doug Martsch joined only by bassist Jason Albertini and drummer Steve Gere. Guitarists Jim Roth and Brett Netson are nowhere to be seen, and I’m later told they’re sitting out this tour.
3. Expectedly, slimming down from three guitars to one has a massive impact on Built to Spill’s sound, and I imagine folks in the near-capacity crowd who’ve never seen the band before—do those people still exist?—might lament the loss of layers and hypnotic instrumental interplay. I’m thrilled, however, at the chance to hear Martsch steer his songs more than ever. He seems super-focused and extra sharp, and the mix is spot-on from my vantage point near the sound booth, with Martsch’s guitar and voice placed nicely atop his bandmates’ steady rhythms. If BTS has a fourth member tonight, it’s Martsch’s effects box, which occupies a high, visible perch near the front of the stage, and helps the group’s longtime leader breathe new energy into some of his most familiar songs.
4. About that setlist: It’s different, all right, as in just four repeats from last April’s show here and only three from Built to Spill’s first Bunkhouse appearance in August 2014. The opening number, “All Our Songs” off Untethered Moon, signals that LP will be well-represented, appropriate not only because of its recentness, but also because Martsch, Albertini and Gere recorded it as a three-piece. By the end of the hour-and-40-minute performance, BTS plays seven of its 10 tracks, along with three as-yet-unreleased songs, at least two of which were written during sessions for Untethered Moon. Catalog classics are kept to a minimum, which makes them all memorable: “The Plan,” complete with a massive, and massively fuzzy, Martsch solo; a jammed-out “Joyride” to close the main set; and “I Would Hurt a Fly” during the encore.
5. Ah, wait, there’s a fourth member after all, at least briefly. Guitarist Scott Schmaljohn, who played with Martsch in pre-BTS Idaho band Treepeople, is here tonight fronting opening act The Hand. He takes the stage for a pair of numbers late in the show, punky Built to Spill tune “Pat” and “Funnelhead,” off Treepeople’s 1992 EP Something Vicious for Tomorrow. Call it the cherry atop a night all about surprises and strange treats.
Setlist:
“All Our Songs”
“Another Day”
“The Plan”
“Living Zoo”
“Goin' Through” (unreleased)
“On the Way”
“So”
“In the Morning”
“Understood” (unreleased)
“Things Fall Apart”
“Never Be the Same”
“C.R.E.B.”
“Alright” (unreleased)
“Pat” (with Scott Schmaljohn)
“Funnelhead” (Treepeople song, with Scott Schmaljohn)
“Joyride”
Encore:
“I Would Hurt a Fly”
“Hindsight”
