Built to Spill at the Georgia Theatre, Athens (24 Sep 2016)

Hop Along

Next came Hop Along. Frances Quinlan has an effortlessly friendly rapport with her audience. Her vocal chops are impressive; simultaneously husky and lilting. Hop Along is a group of talented musicians destined for good things.



Built to Spill began their show, somewhat ironically, with Stop the Show from 1997’s Perfect From Now On. It was a great way to start, building up from a lulling melody into a spacy guitar frenzy. They saved The First Song for a bit later.

Doug Martsch

The band performed as a three piece, leaving all guitar duties in Doug Martsch’s hands. And one thing is certain; the man plays a mean guitar. His tremolo hangs loose as he tears up and down the fretboard while making liberal use of a wah pedal and an Echoplex delay machine.



BTS treated us to a handful of previously unreleased songs, including the haunting and moody Strangers Inside. There has been some debate over whether the actual song title is Strangers Inside or Alright; hopefully we’ll soon be blessed with a new Built to Spill album and find out for sure.



I took peeks at quite a few setlists for this tour, and Built to Spill has really been mixing it up. If you see them at two different venues you’re likely to get two very different samples of their catalog, which is no small thing.



After the show, I was lucky enough to catch a moment to speak to Doug Martsch. I told him how much I’d enjoyed the performance and asked if he had any more copies of the setlist. He said he’d already given them all away… but he gave me his guitar pick instead. Definitely a good tradeoff.



Built to Spill 2016 tour dates: