Spiritualized Live At The Barbican 26/03/2025

Our first visit to London’s famed Barbican venue turns out to be an unexpected treat. Ignore the looming brutalist façade because, once you enter its confines, you find a remarkable oasis that includes a sizable courtyard complete with fountains and smaller, circular pools, around which people sit enjoying the clear, warm evening. Bracketed by residential blocks, and with a clear view of St Giles’ church (which gives every impression of having been swallowed by this monstrous development), it’s a curious mix of the urban and the anachronistic, capturing a side of London’s development rarely seen these days. 

In contrast to the relaxed vibe of the outside space, the interior, which is packed with shops, exhibition spaces, and auditoriums of different sizes, is a hive of activity. Yet, unlike most modern venues, the architects allowed for plenty of space, with multiple bars helping to avoid the monstrous queues so often experienced in arenas, and plenty of seating areas spread around the cavernous foyer. It makes the evening feel more like a night out and less of an endurance test, which is perfect of a band like Spiritualized, who rely on evoking a unique atmosphere with their all-too-rare performances. 

A truly special band, despite critical acclaim, it always felt like Spiritualized managed to sit outside of the commercial rat race into which Britpop devolved. And, while Spiritualized were never part of that scene, their ascent at around the same time could certainly have seen them dragged into the milieu had they had fewer scruples. As it is, the band maintained an aloofness that has remained throughout their career, periodically emerging to share their latest work, before fading away lest they get caught too firmly in the glare of the limelight. It’s that otherworldliness that makes them so special and even a stunning appearance headlining Glastonbury’s second stage in 1998 in support of Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space felt beamed in from another planet, providing those present with an experience that they’ll likely treasure for the rest of their lives. 

In all honesty, tonight’s performance is not far off. Performing second album Pure Phase in its entirety, the show finds the band playing free from all distractions. Starting at 7:30 prompt and with no support or interval, it is an opportunity for fans old and new to experience one of the band’s most beautiful albums as it celebrates its 30^th anniversary. Certainly, it seems many are here to relive a joyous period in their musical lives, for the wave of love that flows over the stage as the band amble on is palpable. That this should happen in a city that can, at times, be quite indifferent to even the most respected of artists, makes it all the more remarkable and, over the course of the night, the band will receive not one, but several standing ovations for their performance. 

As with all Spiritualized performances, tonight’s show is not so much a collection of songs as a single piece of music, linked by gently phasing synths [you’re fired – Ed.] and occasional outbreaks of glorious, jazz-infused noise. Even the simple act of tuning is woven into the fabric of the songs, while J’s reluctance to speak also adds to the feeling that this is something of a symphony, with different songs emerging from the drone to enrapture the audience. 

Not that an album like Pure Phase needs much help in capturing the audience’s attention. For the majority of the show, the audience is so quiet you can hear a pin drop (rapturous applause excepted), allowing the band the necessary space to explore the dynamic spaces of the record. From the opening bars of Medication (hauled out of a jazzy melange that neatly wrong foots the audience), and the stunning Slide Song – still one of the single most beautiful pieces the band have put to tape – it’s clear that this is going to be one of the nights that burns itself into the memory. With the stage bathed in green light and haze, with only a giant moon projected onto the screen behind, it feels as if the auditorium has been swallowed up, with only the band and you interacting in a void. It’s a haunting feeling and one that few contemporary artists can evoke – rather more reminiscent of the expansive majesty of Pink Floyd in their heyday. 

Standout moments come and go, seemingly never beginning or ending, but simply emerging to pull the listener in a different direction. Whether it’s the epic lead guitar driving Laurie Anderson cover Born, Never Asked; the briefly explosive Lay Back In The Sun – a gospel infused explosion of joy that never fails to lift the spirits – or the valedictory conclusion, Feel Like Going Home – it’s a wonderful trip the band take us on, holding the audience literally on the edge of their seats for vast swathes of the set’s run time. 

Only one question nags away – how do you follow so epic a performance? With the band leaving the stage to sustained applause, it’s not immediately clear if they will return, although the house lights remain dimmed, raising hopes of an encore. When the band do stroll on (to a cheer that damn near takes the roof off), they provide the only answer that matters – a stunning rendition of Ladies and Gentleman… standout track Cop Shoot Cop. A twenty-minute jazz-psyche-rock exploration that condenses the band’s remit into one perfect piece of music, it provides this most remarkable of evenings with a stunning, joyous finale that sends the audience out into the London night with their senses singing. 

I’ve been a Spiritualized devotee since a friend first introduced me to the band back in 1997. They have never disappointed live, but I honestly hadn’t expected them to match that first experience – standing ankle deep in mud, slack jawed in awe, in a Glastonbury field back in 1998. Yet here, in the Barbican, they brought all those memories flooding back and, for two glorious hours, neither time nor space mattered a damn as I fell in love all over again.