| Sparta - Denver, Bluebird Theatre Sunday 2nd March 2003 |
While the afro’d ones have been followed relentlessly by the music press and fans alike, the rest of the band quietly went about the business of sorting out a new band, and how they’ve progressed.
They will always be compared to ATD-I of course, because that is lazy journalism and that’s what the kids will talk about, but they deserve better than that.
The songs go beyond what they produced in their alter ego, they are more melodic, cleverer even, and they connect to the crowd.
Earlier we had witnessed a couple of the support bands…. typical non-musical, low-brow chugging and shouting – lowest common denominator (only just above Limp Bizkit), kids slam dancing - these are kids of about 12 years old mind you.
But when Sparta come to the stage the atmosphere changes. Most of the kids are gone – they’ve been picked up by their parents in the SUV’s that don’t ever see the mountains, and we are left with a more refined crowd. Everyone respects each others space, and we listen and enjoy.
Part way through Jim apologises to the crowd for playing the same songs for the last three tours, but no one cares. He does promise a new album for the next time they visit however.
ATD-I had something to prove after signing to a major and spontaneously combusted whilst clinging on to their roots, but Sparta have nothing to prove now. They simply play good music and entertain us with intelligent writing and talk to us like they care. The albatross has flown!
I also met the manager for Glassjaw and Gabe, one of the guys who look after Sparta, after an altercation about me taking photos. One didn’t want to listen and tried to bully the film from me – the other listened and talked to me like a normal person and said it was fine – I’ll let you guess who was who.
skippy
