Built To Spill - UCLA, Westwood, California, April 29, 1997

Built To Spill - UCLA, Westwood, California, April 29, 1997I caught Built To Spill last week — my first time in many, many years. And lo, it was good. The current BTS lineup is made up of just a relatively young / very energized rhythm section, leaving Doug Martsch to handle each and every tricky guitar move. And wow, did he handle those moves. In his ever understated way, Doug remains one of the coolest players, an ideal blend of Mascis, Marr, Young and beyond. Seeing Built To Spill had my mind casting way way way back to the first time I saw Martsch and co. The spring of 1997! The legendary Troubadour in West Hollywood! The end of my senior year in high school! BTS had soundtracked a lot of the previous four years, especially when I was spending summers as a camp counselor in the mountains outside of San Diego. Is there a tape of the Troubadour show in the voluminous Built To Spill live archives? Apparently not. But there is a recording of the band’s afternoon performance at UCLA…