Spiritualized Live : “A Transcendent Wig-Out”

In early September, the British rock spectacle Spiritualized released their first album in six years, the radiant but vulnerable And Nothing Hurt. Highly praised by Pitchfork, The New York Times, and The Guardian, it is a strong candidate for year-end lists and “a collection of wistful, wounded observations, the work of a person wearied by the world, but no less in love with it for that,” raves NME.

And now, it’s on tour: Last weekend in New York and tonight in Los Angeles, Spiritualized leader Jason Pierce surrounds himself with nearly three-dozen musicians—his standby rock ’n’ roll band, plus a choir and a small orchestra in a show that The Guardian has dubbed “a transcendent wig-out.” The New York setlist was career-spanning, starting surprisingly with the storm of “Hold On” before skyrocketing into an anthem that rivals the Beatles song of the same name, “Come Together.” “Initially people aren’t quite sure—they’re kind of like, ‘What is this?’” Pierce told Vogue the night before the Brooklyn concert. “But by the end of the show, they’re all, ‘What the hell was that?!’ And it’s really beautiful.”

Watch “A Perfect Miracle,” recorded at the grand Kings Theatre, below. See the setlist at Brooklyn Vegan. And see Spiritualized in all its majesty at Big Ears 2019.