By Jack Arnhold, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Acclaimed American indie-rock band The National are bringing their unique brand of introspective rock to Circo Voadar, in Lapa, tonight at 8PM. The New York based quartet will be accompanied by another cult indie-rock band, Spoon, for what is set to be an evening to delight independent music fans throughout Rio.
Often described as ‘indie music for grownups’, The National are touring their latest album “Sleep Well Beast”, released last year. The album was, not unusually for the band, very well received by critics, with Rolling Stone magazine calling it ‘The National’s Best LP Yet’.
Drawing close to their twentieth year together, The National have long since cemented their place as indie heroes, and the band won a long overdue Grammy in 2017 for best alternative album. They last visited Rio in 2011, where they played to a stunned Circo Voadar crowd in Lapa, which included Brazilian musical legend Caetano Veloso.
About that show in 2011, the band’s frontman Matt Berninger commented, “[It] was different, it was in a way better than our previous shows,” going on to describe how “the show was at a small, intimate venue, and we could feel how much more the people were connected.” With the band returning to the same intimate venue, tonight promises to be just as wonderful.
Also joining the National this evening are another acclaimed indie group who have been playing together for almost 25 years: Spoon, from Austin, Texas. They will be touring their album ‘Hot Thoughts’, released last year to similarly high praise. Described by their drummer, Jim Eno, as ‘psychedelic’, Spoon’s music has spanned many genres over their career, yet it always delights fans of the inventive and imaginative side of rock.
This show will be Spoon’s first in Rio since 2015, when they played to an appreciative crowd at Saúde’s Sacadura 154. With their latest album described by The Chicago Tribune as ‘a carefully sequenced descent into a subterranean disco’, Spoon will be sure to get the crowd jumping. Music fans in Lapa will be seeing double this evening as they catch two stunning sets in one night.
What: The National and Spoon
When: Tonight, March 22nd – 8PM
Where: Circo Voador – Rua dos Arcos, s/n – Lapa
Entrance: R$160 – R$320