I cant use Spotify on my Apple Watch without my iPhone nearby

At present, you are only allowed to control the playback of Spotify music on the Apple Watch. This means that you must carry your iPhone when you play Spotify Music on Apple Watch. If you wan to play Spotify music on Apple Watch without iPhone, you must download Spotify music to your Apple Watch first. To download Spotify music to your Apple Watch, you may need the help of a third-party tool like Spotify music downloader. Then you can transfer Spotify music to Apple Watch for listening without carrying your iPhone, even without an Internet connection.

I find this tutorial to download and play Spotify music on Apple Watch without iPhone. You can have try.

The key tool is a third-party Spotify converter like Spotify music downloader. With the use of this app, it is simple to download Spotify music and import to Apple Watch for playing without phone nearby.

Read here;

Spotify on Apple Watch

this is absurd - i cant stream spotify from my watch? is this a spotify or apple issue?

Probably your internet connection? I'm used to downloading songs with a Spotify to MP3 converter and stream them on my Apple Watch.