With Some Velvet Sidewalk.

Review by a curious Ben Folds Five fan:

Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 11:21:01 -0700
From: Steve VanDevender
Subject: Built to Spill concert review

Since BFF hasn't come to Eugene (yet), I can't post a recent concert review for them. However, Built to Spill has been mentioned in relation to BFF a couple of times (at least as the music they listened to a lot while on their last tour), and since BTS played in Eugene last Monday, I decided to give them a try.

The two words that came to my mind while watching Built to Spill play were "talented" and "athletic". Since this is the first time I've ever seen or heard them, I can't give any of the song titles, and the sound was such that I couldn't make out any of the lyrics, but the three guys in the band cranked out an _awful_ lot of music, sometimes hard-edged, sometimes mellower, and always melodic. I can see why the guys in BFF liked them. They aren't much like BFF, being a traditional "power trio" guitar-bass-drums lineup, but with a lot more musical sense than average. The most impressive part of the concert was the last song, which probably literally lasted 30 minutes straight (I didn't time it, but it was looooong), looked exhausting to play, and was almost exhausting to listen to. Although they claimed to know only ten songs, it certainly didn't seem like a short set. Their lead guitarist/vocalist also made very skillful use of a little effects box that he used to loop bits of his playing against themselves, and they recovered fairly gracefully from the guitarist breaking a string early in the set -- the bass player and drummer noodled around for a couple of minutes and gradually trailed off, by which time the guitarist was almost ready to tune the new string.

All in all, I'd recommend Built to Spill. It also sounds like they're on a national tour, as one audience member asked about a Chicago tour date.