spiritualized lives up to its name

Spiritualized at the Wonder Ballroom. Photo by Autumn Andel.

Indulgence. Spiritualized has deftly mastered this craft.

And, they can show it off too—which they did on Tuesday night at Portland's Wonder Ballroom during an almost two and half hour set.

With a plethora of six-, seven- and eight-minute-long (or more) tracks, it's not that hard to fill all that time. Led by a seated, sunglassed J. Spaceman, the crew of experimental, symphonic rockers know where the beauty lies in their craft: their self-indulgence allows for the audience to indulge right alongside them.

Enablers. Spiritualized granted the 21-and-over crowd a few hours to blissfully rock out uninterrupted—enabled this experience through tempered moments of elegant, gentle grace (like the sleepy, bluesy tinge that opens "Shine A Light") that unhurriedly escalated to points of intense electricity, which finally burst into a violent mash of cacophony (like on the 2012 single "Hey Jane," an early moment of potency in the set) before calmly settling down and tucking you in at the close of each song.

Epic. How could any of the aforementioned not be?

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get out! : spiritualized

My contribution to this week's edition of Get Out!

If you missed Spiritualized last May when they traveled through town, you can be excused if it was because you were at Sasquatch. You can also be excused if you missed that set because their performance time was bumped back an hour because Mogwai failed to show. Regardless, they played a glorious night- and festival-ending set—backed by two sexy, naturally colorful singers clad in white dresses—in the cool darkness of the final eve of the four-day extravaganza. Still supporting their most recent release and seventh studio album, 2012's Sweet Heart Sweet Light, Spiritualized is back in the Northwest and headlining the Wonder again. As always, expect dramatic, experimental, symphonic rock full of soaring highs and heart-wrenching lows from the English six-piece led by the troubled, soul-bearing J. Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce).

Tuesday, April 9, Wonder Ballroom, 8:30pm, $18 advance / $20 door, 21+

Watch Spiritualized’s NSFW video for “Hey Jane,” the lead single off last year's record:

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Get the rest of OMN's Get Out! picks for April 4-10.