Live music beacon Austin City Limits (ACL) spotlights one of modern rock’s premier bands, Austin’s own Spoon, with The Best of Spoon. The career-spanning hour offers a fascinating look at the acclaimed band’s evolution from their debut on the series in 2003 to the recent present via highlights from the four-time ACL veterans. The broadcast premieres Saturday, January 30 at 8pm CT/9pm ET, as part of the iconic series Season 46. The episode will be available to music fans everywhere to stream online beginning Sunday, January 31 @10am ET at pbs.org/austincitylimits. With live music on hold, ACL continues to provide viewers a front-row seat to the best in performance. The program airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings for times) and full episodes are made available online for a limited time at pbs.org/austincitylimits immediately following the initial broadcast. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding future tapings, episode schedules and select live stream updates. The show’s official hashtag is #acltv.
Spoon emerged in the early aughts and Austin City Limits is proud to present highlights from the band’s multiple appearances on the program over two decades. Pitchfork hails them as “one of the most stand-up bands of their generation” and as Rolling Stone raves of their twenty-five year streak: “It’s just been one long stretch of slow-build greatness.” The 14-song, career-wide hour is a master-class from a band that has inspired legions of diehard fans and made it strictly on its own terms: jagged guitar, tight melodies and killer hooks, as frontman Britt Daniels’ indelible vocals fuse with drummer Jim Eno’s impeccable beats to create a sound all their own.
“Austin City Limits has always been good to us, going back to when I was served underage beers in the old UT studios at the Stevie Ray Vaughan taping of 1989,” says Britt Daniel. “We’ve played the show four different times now, and it never feels less than epic to be on stage with that set of the Austin skyline.”
Spoon tear through early-career highlights in their 2003 ACL debut, including the gut punch “Everything Hits At Once” from their 2001 breakthrough Girls Can Tell (which marks the 20th Anniversary this year) alongside the melodic swagger of “The Way We Get By” from 2002’s Kill the Moonlight. The band makes a confident return in 2005 to perform songs from that year’s Gimme Fiction. “This feels very Austin City Limits—I’m gonna invite somebody up on the stage,” says Daniel as indie standout M. Ward joins them on guitar for the scorching “The Beast and Dragon, Adored.” Spoon showcase their bona fides in a 2010 outing filled with gems from 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and 2010’s Transference including a definitive “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” backed by a six-piece horn section. Returning to ACL in 2015 for the fourth time, Spoon receives a hero’s welcome from the Austin crowd. The band is at the top of their game, with a catalog of hits to match, and they deliver a stellar set filled with fan favorites including “I Turn My Camera On” and highlights from their acclaimed eighth album, 2014’s They Want My Soul, thrilling with the sublime pop perfection of “Do You” and “Rainy Taxi.”
Best of Spoon setlist:
Small Stakes (2003)
The Way We Get By (2003)
Everything Hits At Once (2003)
My Mathematical Mind (2005)
The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine (2005)
The Beast and Dragon, Adored (2005)
I Summon You (2005)
Sister Jack (2005)
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb (2010)
Written In Reverse (2010)
Jonathan Fisk (2010)
I Turn My Camera On (2015)
Do You (2015)
Rainy Taxi (2015)
Season 46 Broadcast Schedule:
January 9 Foo Fighters Rock Austin City Limits
January 16 The War And Treaty | Ruthie Foster
January 23 Ray Wylie Hubbard
January 30 The Best of Spoon
February 6 Texas Icons: Jerry Jeff Walker & Billy Joe Shaver
February 13 Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Legend
ACL’s Season 46 premiered in October with standout performances from 2021 Grammy nominee Rufus Wainwright, UK country-soul sensation Yola, rock and country trailblazers The Mavericks, acclaimed Austin standout Jackie Venson, salutes to late ACL legends John Prine and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a celebration of 50 years of Asleep at the Wheel and more.
Tune-in, log on, and let ACL be a trusted sidekick for entertainment during these challenging days. Viewers can visit acltv.com for news regarding live streams, future tapings and episode schedules or by following ACL on Facebook, Twitter, IG and TikTok. Fans can also browse the ACL YouTube channel for exclusive songs, behind-the-scenes videos and full-length artist interviews.
For images and episode information, visit Austin City Limits press room at http://acltv.com/press-room/.
About Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 46th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic KLRU Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.
Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, RigUp, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.