built to spill -- transcendence revisited

here's a happy ending to an older post. built to spill made good at first avenue tonight on the gig they cancelled in march. it is too late to write a review, but the guitar work was transcendent on this first show of their new tour.

doug martsch was joined by two other guitarists, bass, and drums.
closed circuit to gary: bts fans should love this setup. mr. martsch had an energetic rhythm player (mostly rhthym, anyway) to his right, and a more fluid and furry slide and skronk artist to his left. each played a well-worn and/or partially disassembled strat or telecaster. at one point all three were noodling away somewhere north of fret #14, leaving the capable rhythm section to push the song along. it all fit together surprisingly well, especially for several "new" and "first live performance" efforts.

there was no cortez the killer, but great waves of guitar washed over us on several other extended workouts. i even heard a little beck's bolero mixed in with the neil young, plus an eco-friendly guest shot by calvin johnson and a topical gladiators cover. but mostly it was three guitarists playing beautifully together.