Built to Spill
Vanguard
September 30, 2026
My relationship with “dad rock” is a little complicated. Instead of Phish or Steely Dan, my dad’s rock comprised ’90s indie legends, including Built to Spill, the highly-influential outfit out of Boise. So, when Built to Spill graced Vanguard’s stage last week, we went together, smoking a joint on the way to the venue as he explained the importance of the band to expanding his artistic and musical worldview as a young adult.
Walking in through the crowd of lingering cigarette smokers (no vapes, too high-tech for this lo-fi crowd), one got a sense of the generation that adores Built to Spill. There were a few under-40 concertgoers (including someone in their early 20s googling “Built to Spill albums” in front of us), but the ’90s college reunion vibe was key to the experience.
The band trickled onto the stage without fanfare, quietly adjusting pedals and gear before launching into There’s Nothing Wrong with Love’s “Stab.” The response from the crowd was immediate and Built to Spill unrelentingly kept the audience’s attention for the rest of the show.
Where most bands place their drummer behind the other members, Teresa Esguerra was in line with lead guitarist (and only consistent band member) Doug Martsch and bassist Melanie Radford on the Vanguard stage. Together, they produced a unified wall of fuzz and sound.
Martsch is particularly adept at wringing out smooth guitar solos in between complex and layered lyrics. There’s definitely jam-band adjacent meandering that happens at a Built to Spill show, but they make it feel so cool. I’m notoriously anti-jam-band, and maybe it was the aforementioned joint, but I had no problems being swept away with their inspired instrumentals. If only all jam bands had Doug Martsch!
As any Tulsan knows, we are not typically a shy audience. I have heard the whoops and hollers and whistles of a local crowd many times before and this show was no different. I saw a couple two-stepping to “Living Zoo,” because if there’s one thing Okies are gonna do, it's prove that there’s no song you can’t two-step to. Toward the end of the show, someone else in the audience called out, “Thank you for coming to Tulsa!” and the typically quiet Martsch chuckled and said, “No, thank you all.”
Despite barely addressing the crowd, the band was able to keep the energy going and forward-moving. This was a crowd that knew all the words, not because of mainstream success but from their dogged dedication to a band that just makes good music that speaks to a lot of outsiders and weirdos. This night specifically, the pedal work and distortions from Martsch complemented the rest of the band and the smaller-sized venue. It was intimate and old-school, perfect for a late-September night.
What a “dad band” is to someone is personal, and Built to Spill is mine. “Big Dipper” will always remind me of long, late-night drives with my dad. There’s an inherent nostalgia in the lyrics of Built to Spill, with memory, the past, and autobiography showing up again and again. Martsch’s voice and playing ability is the same it always has been and, at this rate, might always be. The kids who were interested in finding something underneath mainstream rock found it in the anti-hit Built to Spill and they packed out the Vanguard in 2026 in order to relive a bit of that thrill.
There’s no better way to experience Built to Spill than live, with a crowd of people who have seen them live for over 30 years. Next time they come to Tulsa, smoke a joint and go with someone who loves them.
