I love Spoon, don't get me wrong, but I never really considered them to be an especially forward thinking band, as far as new technologies are concerned--not to the degree of other artists who have been attached to Wired's NextFest in the past, like David Byrne, Beck, and the Beastie Boys.

Of course, as with so many things in this life, real change just requires one well-timed viral YouTube video. And the inclusion of a plucky little yellow dancing robot doesn't hurt, either. When the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Kyoto posted a video of their Peeps-esque Keepon robot grooving to Spoon's Prince-like track, "I Turn My Camera On" back in April, all of that changed. The original YouTube post has since racked up 1,411,000 hits and counting.

The video also spawned a follow up--a jaunt through the busy Japanese streets with Keepon and cameos by various members of Spoon. It's become the official video for the band's new single, "Don't You Evah."

If all that's not enough to justify Spoon's newfound techy props, there's also the band's recent involvement with Creative Commons to consider. The non-profit organization was developed with the intention of, "expanding the range of creative work available for others to build upon and share legally." The proceeds of Monday's NextFest kickoff concert will go to the non-profit organization. Spoon has worked with both Creative Commons and Wired in the past, having contributed a track to the 2005 Rip. Sample. Mash. Share. compilation.

Opening act Kool Keith's Dr. Octagon persona certainly has the high-tech cred, with an entire alias based on his bizarre technophile fetishes. Still, the Doc felt the need to constantly reassure the crowd, imploring us to check out his Myspace page and Google his new record throughout the set. Oh yeah, and for the record, he's got a new video up on YouTube that you should totally check out.

Wired Publisher Jay Lauf, and Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales gave speeches about Wired and Creative Commons in between sets. Meanwhile, the lobby of the Fonda was packed with folks checking out a tabletop board game that runs on brainwaves and a table full of six Keepons.

In all, a pretty rad way to kick off this year's NextFest. The worst part of the whole thing is waiting until Thursday for the show to begin. Oh, and in case you missed out on last night's show, no worries: The Keepons will be making an encore performance at NextFest later this week.