Yo La Tengo live

Sonic Youth 'at their best' - well, I've heard it said that SY were great last year. I saw them last year and it was maybe the worst gig I've ever seen - worse than YLT 2001. So I'm not sure that the SY comparison does YLT favours in my eyes (though I expect it will for others).

Last time I saw them --- on their sit-down, chill-out tour for And Then Nothing. . . --- there was a palpable and sort of disappointing absence of noise. Ira played one of his incredible drunken-swerving solos for "Stockholm Syndrome," got the biggest crowd reaction of the night, and then . . . nothing. Obviously I don't mean to criticize, as the stated point of the tour was to concentrate on the other side of their sound, but . . . it was just odd to watch a guitar player deliberately holding back the abilities that would impress listeners most obviously. I suppose that's pretty admirable, when you think about it . . .

the big difference lately has been where the jams come in: the songs used to start normally and then deconstruct into a jam; now, the jams start as a lot of unrelated noodeling that (eventually) coheres into a song. it can be rewarding to listen to, but takes a lot of patience -- and they don't always pull it off.

For some reason, I always have a better time at YLT if I'm sitting down. Having seen them in the two theatres at the Royal Festival Hall, (one time with Sonic Boom along for the ride...) I thought they were one of the best bands I'd ever seen in my life- adventurous, chaotic, spontaneous, yet tightly controlled and disciplined. Amazing shows.

And then I saw then a few months ago, at an overcrowded, poorly sounded show in Shepherds Bush, and I thought they were one of the worst bands I'd ever seen in my life, their solos interminable and their free jazz intolerable.

So, it really can vary, depending on both the band, and the state in which you see them (mentally, not as in US)

Sonic Youth at ATP2000 has gone down in the dictionary as The Worst Show Ever Performed By A Rock Band. No, really, look it up, there's a little picture of Kim and her trumpet.

I'm afraid I can't live with Nitsuh's ref to 'abilities'. My feeling was, here's an average rock guitar player - come to think of it, a BAD rock guitar player, by the standards of most professional-type axe-workers - and he's going to prove it ad nauseam.

When I go to a concert I want more than there is on the record. I want that the band play a set just for me, something unique, which will never be reproduced. That is also the reason why I love improvisations. And YLT and SY do exactly that. They make me feel that I am part of the show. They make human music, MBV does not. And live shows are not about perfection. Especially the imperfect bits, the false tones, the unplanned things make the charm of a live show.

@Josh: You should go and see them. You have missed something.

Keithkey is spot-on. And comparing that YLT geezer to Hendrix seems to me a serious critical misjudgement - like comparing, um, Simon Armitage to Wyndham Lewis or something. No, worse than that.

To the others: try for loads of Yo La Tengo live songs. Blue Line Swinger is a classic for example. I like the version at St. Louis which is stretched to ten minutes. The song evolves very slowly. Almost like Low's cover of Joy Division's Transmission (one of the few covers which can compete with the original). I must admit I did not have the time to listen to all these mp3's. Anyways next time they are around and they love Germany and Germany loves them I will go to see them.

Sonic Youth played the single most amazing live show I have ever seen , at the ICA in 1983 or 1984. The three or four times I have seen them since they have been boring: I realise I have been buying records and liking them purely in expectation of having a repeat experience delivered. Nothing suggests to me that this *cannot* occur: but it *may* not. I have next to no opinion abt Yo La Tengo either way.

To Alex in all seriousness -- well, again, a matter of perception here. Were you fortunate enough to attend, you might have found the YLT set opening for MBV involved and interesting, but as mentioned for me aside from the one song it was crudulous (I vaguely remember Ira starting on stage flailing all around on his guitar and trying to 'rock out,' I guess -- it looked stupid and I wasn't impressed). MBV, for my money, had enough get-into-it live energy to easily carry the performance -- Deb Googe was always the most active of the bunch, unquestionably, but on things like the 35-minute (yes!) version of the "You Made Me Realize" midsong jam that I saw at the second show everybody seemed possessed by the music and performance. To be sure, Kevin and Bilinda were mostly concentrating on what they were playing and getting it across -- but the music itself was so enveloping, it was insane. The first time I saw them that year, the overcrowded, packed club audience were constantly swaying back and forth, unsteady, a queasy slow-motion pit while the band blasted away. Who needed acrobatics on the stage itself at that point?

As for Sonic Youth's alleged improv skills -- hm. The one time I saw them back in 1999, it was just after the equipment theft, so I allowed for the fact that it was a greatest hits set of a sort and fairly conservative all around, played on borrowed equipment and generally not being much different from what was on record (they did at least do my all time favorite SY song "Mote," though, so I was very pleased). Great was my surprise when I learned from a friend who had been at both that show and the SF show just before the instrument theft that they had played *the same exact set*. I had been resolutely unconvinced by them over time, and that just made it all the worse.

And don't knock the Pinefox -- like it or not, Alex, there *are* people with different opinions from yourself who will hold to that opinion just as strongly as you do yours. ;-)

Wait -- so for a comeback, you're making fun of the fact that he's from Germany? That crosses the line, IMHO, especially inasmuch as his English is just fine; I suspect you wouldn't do that with someone from Japan, or Ghana, or so on. Attack his arguments, if you like, but not his ethnicity.

As for Yo La Tengo, surprisingly, I know very little of their recorded output. However, when I saw them live in May 1998 (my band, among others, opened for them), I enjoyed it quite a bit. Talkative college students ruined all the quiet songs (which were very good otherwise), and the loud songs were fun -- Ira was tossing his guitar everywhere, squalling and howling. It was a good time.

To the previous question:

I found YLT to be quite enjoyable live. A very professional, tight band who know when to let go and when to come back in.

I missed them at the Town Hall shows here in town tho, and have never been to a sit-down show with them. I'm sure it's on par with Kronos or going to hear chamber music.

which is why the sonic youth comparisons mystify me, unless we're only talking about the last two sy geffen albums, and even that's doubtful. maybe i haven't heard the right ylt but what i heard just sounded like another, albeit better-than-average, music-for-old- people indie-mumble band. i don't see a "death valley '69" coming out of that bunch anytime soon.

i didn't think sy were especially known for their improvisations live. most of what's on the records sounds pretty through-composed to me. obviously they stretch out some songs but they were never a postpunk dead afaik. too bad to hear they were in poor form at atp last year. i saw them last summer in montreal and they were good, though the show was short. they even opened with a searing version of "burning spear" and did stellar versions of "schizophrenia" and "kool thing," closing with an extended "nyc g&f." their workout through their whole back catalogue did make me appreciate that i like some parts of it a lot more than others.

@Pinefox: Nice reply. I could not stop laughing (I am dead serious). But how about: Who are you mainhattan characters? They are only, like you say and with energy supply people. They seem, in the music bang so much, versed to be (you know mouse also Falco Jacob, swing me, amadeus, OH - . I would like to know well-being their world opinion in the morning. It neckt Karikaturbonfire it I). If you go into such a way on writing, it, type of merry, is you is, like film star of years 20. Therefore they like, everything are good you in the love music of the forum I. Now it makes sense. Thanks to Babelfish. So you like Lloyd Cole? Mmm. Me too. But could it be that you have taken the title of his last album too literal? Don't get weird on me pinefox.

@Phil: No. My English is crap and was even worse in that post above. And you are exaggerating. Pinefox cracked a joke. I do not think that this is enough to start a war. And I guess our ethnicity is the same (I am Indo-European). But thanks anyway.

My first experience to MBV, as I've gone on about elsewhere (time and again!) on this board, was pure shock and stunned trance at how wonderful it was, hearing "Soon" for the very first time. That had about as much to do with rationality as throwing myself off a cliff because I might bounce.

I have no problem with you arguing your case and all, but junk your attempts at artistic psychoanalysis. If you can't accept the fact I disagree, that's your problem and not mine.

On the other hand when I read your last post I am flabbergasted by your sensitivity.

I accept that and I do not want to go any deeper (only a little bit). I just wanted to understand why our judgements differ. Especially as we start from practically the same point. When I saw MBV ten years ago they were my favourite group. Loveless was the most hypnotic album of the 90s. A song like When you sleep is absolutely stunning and still today. The concert left me totally cold. No interaction between the band and the public whatsoever. Except some stage-divers. When I went to see YLT the first time I did not expect a lot. And Ira talked to us and reacted when people asked for songs. And he was playing guitar like a devil (sorry another stereotype). Totally involved into his music. He was on a trip and he took us with him. I left the concert as a convert to YLT. When comparing those two bands to drugs I would say MBV is about taking LSD, a lonely but very strong experience. But YLT is about sharing a joint. It is a social thing and it is a soft and quite feeble high which lasts.

So maybe we have different preferences concerning those substances.

For another thing, this 'really getting into it, man = emotion; concentrating on playing = technical, unemotional' vision -- I absolutely refuse this limiting, ridiculous stereotype. Some of the most calculated bullshit I've ever encountered at shows has been from the most active people on-stage, some of the freest, most evocative and emotional playing from the most calm and controlled performers. Roy Montgomery in particular, with two extended improvisatory pieces at Terrastock 2, showed that much, all while sitting down, but he had that crowd -- and a large one it was -- on as much of a trip as Ira did for yours. *And* Mr. Montgomery was engaging in a bit of audience banter too if that makes you happy.

I am not trying to set up an opposing set of rules to yours, Alex, but I am trying to demonstrate that your own vision is not automatically the mirror image of mine. Is this so hard to understand?

(But I still maintain, however, that your English is not crap. Es ist ganz besser als mein Deutsch...)

On the subject of YLT live- I remember Alec Empire interview in NME where he talked about seeing YLT live and how they were scared to go on because the stage was covered in water and so they might get fried! Onstage!

And alec then called them a bunch of assholes- he would love to be there himself, he'd relish that kind of situation- and he proceeded to tell the the kids to stop buying all of this indie garbage.

http://www.yolatengo.com/schedule.html

'Fun' reading above.

I suppose I'm only really familiar with "And the nothing...", "I Can Hear the Heart...", "Summer Sun", and "Painful", since those are the only ones I own. Oh, and their first album, which I've listened to 1/2 a time.

But I only recognized about 5 of the songs they played, total. I assume the rest were covers, obscure b-sides...who knows. When things couldn't get any worse, they ended with their "Nuclear War" cover, which lasted about 15 minutes and wasn't very impressive. Then, when they finished, a fall-over-drunk woman yelled out, "HAY!!1 Play it...aGEE-YEN!"

And they did. They played another 15 minute long version of Nuclear War, which was just as disappointing as the first. Then, they were done.

Plus, it looked like Ira and Georgia were in the middle of a messy divorce the whole show.

They were absolutely incredible both times I saw them last year, just inspired and at the top of their game. It will be criminal if we don’t get a live document of the last two years of touring. They really could use a live album!

Last time I saw them was a few years back and Georgia's drumming was a real high point.

I’m a couple weeks away from seeing them here in Maryland. Will bump this thread once I have!

(Previously saw them in DC in ‘97, remains one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.)

They've been great every time I've seen them. (The highlight was in Central Park when Ira made a dramatic exit off the stage, done in a way that for a split-second made me think irrationally that was he coming after me for some unknown reason - turns out, he wanted to pass his guitar into the crowd and have us all take a turn.) The only time anyone I know witnessed a bad show was when they willfully did one where they read Seinfeld scripts. Still hard to believe, but I have to say it took guts to stick with it even though it was clearly displeasing their audience.

Here we go, in Baltimore

8 nights of Chanukah tickets on sale. 1st night is December 25, 2024

https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00006138BCD880F1

I went up to NY last year for first time doing one of those shows and it was great. But schedule doesn’t work for my wife and I this year

I'm sure I'm alone on this one, really wish I could afford a trip to take in a night or two of YLT and hit up Phish at the Garden for NYE. Kind of a dream NYC trip for me at the moment.

playing an in-store at a record shop here as a fundraiser for the harris-walz compaign. tempted to go but tickets are a bit steep at 100$ and i'm not like the world's biggest YLT fan, there's a good chance i don't know half the songs they play. i'm canadian so not sure if attending would be breaking any campaign finance laws lol

I got tickets for the Sunday Chanukah show. Both times I've seen them were really great, but I have never seen one those shows before.

I'm sure I'm alone on this one, really wish I could afford a trip to take in a night or two of YLT and hit up Phish at the Garden for NYE. Kind of a dream NYC trip for me at the moment.

https://jessejarnow.com/2024/12/yo-la-tengo-hanukkah-2024-night-1-setlist/

some great encores on nights 1 and 2

Yo La Tengo Hanukah shows night 3

*(encore)* with Ernie Brooks on bass/vocals
She Cracked (Modern Lovers)
Government Center (Modern Lovers)
Fly Into the Mystery (Modern Lovers)
Roadrunner (Modern Lovers)

https://jessejarnow.com/2024/12/yo-la-tengo-hanukkah-2024-night-3-setlist/

I'm going tomorrow. Dawn Richard would have been great!

these all look incredible, as usual

Soft Boys reunion tonight, or as close as we can get to it, with Lee Cave-Berry on bass instead of Matthew Seligman (RIP) or Andy Metcalfe.

Video clips on Robyn Hitchcock IG page and story. Saw someone say there was a stream of the set on some site

There's something about yt that make critics adore them but i ignore what it is. Same goes for Nick Cave.

They were great last night and I got to here a few of my favorites - Last Days of Disco, Deeper Into Movies, Sudden Organ.

They brought out MJ Lenderman for an "old Jewish folk song" as Ira put it, then tore into Dylan's Something There is About You.

Nice! Reminds me of Elvis Costello's remarks at Live Aid, when he had to play a solo number at the last minute, so he told the audience, "here's a Northern folk song" and led everyone in a sing-a-long of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love."

Night 5 encores --
*(encore)* with Joey Spampinato (bass/vocals) & Kami Lyle (vocals/trumpet/organ)
Christmas Wish (NRBQ)
Mambo (Kami Lyle)
I Could Write A Book (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)
What Can I Say (NRBQ)

whole set with Steve Shelley on drums, noise guitar on “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss”

------------------------------------
Night 6
whole set with Marc Ribot on guitar

band enters to “Jimmy Carter Says ‘Yes'”

Little Honda (The Hondells) (with Alan Licht on guitar)

*(encore)* with Swamp Dogg on vocals/keyboard & MoogStar on keyboard/vocals
Synthetic World (Swamp Dogg)
She’s All I Got (Jerry Williams Jr./Gary “U.S.” Bonds)
What Do You Plan To Do About It (Jerry Williams Jr.)
Total Destruction To Your Mind (Swamp Dogg)

All these details are from Jesse Jarnow website

https://jessejarnow.com/2025/01/yo-la-tengo-hanukkah-2024-night-7-setlist/

Night 7-

Here You Are (with Sun Ra Arkestra horns)
Dreaming (Sun Ra) (with Arkestra horns)
midnight
A Bomb Bop (Mike Fern & Del Royals) (with Arkestra horns, Miriam Linna on vocals/percussion, & Bruce Bennett on guitar)
Unmask the Batman (Sun Ra) (with Arkestra horns)
Brain Capers (with Arkestra horns)
Emulsified (Rex Garvin) (with Arkestra horns)
Nuclear War (Sun Ra) (with Arkestra horns

*(encore)*
Don’t Make My Baby Blue (Cynthia Weill) (with ML & BB)
Have You Seen My Baby (Randy Newman, arr. Flamin’ Groovies) (with ML & BB)
It’s So Easy (The Zantees) (with ML & BB)
Get the Message (The Cyrus Erie) (with ML & BB)
Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones) (with ML & BB)
Autumn Sweater (acoustic)

Swamp Dogg, my god.

been singing

it's a motherfucker, don't you know
they push that button
your ass got to go

to myself ever since I saw this earlier

https://jessejarnow.com/2025/01/yo-la-tengo-hanukkah-2024-night-8-setlist/

Yo La Tengo at Bowery Ballroom
1 January 2025
*(Hanukkah, night 8)*

opening act: Antietam
comedian: Emily Catalano
mix CD: Ira
benefiting: Hitops

whole set minus “Our Way To Fall” with Dave Rick on guitar/bass

Surfin’ With the Shah (Urinals)
Five-Cornered Drone (Crispy Duck)
We’re An American Band
Demons
3 Blocks From Groove Street
Tears Are In Your Eyes
Why Don’t You Smile Now (Lou Reed)
I Should Have Known Better
From A Motel 6
I Know You Rider (trad., arr. Hot Tuna) (with Tara Key on guitar)
E.T.I. (Blue Oyster Cult) (with TK)
Today Is The Day (fast) (with TK)
Tom Courtenay (with TK)
The Evil That Men Do (Pablo’s Version) (with TK)
Our Way To Fall

*(encore)*
Happy New Year (Kimberley Rew) (with Kimberley Rew on guitar/vocals & Lee Cave-Berry on vocals)
Stomping All Over the World (Kimberley Rew) (with KR & LCB)
Straighten Up and Fly Right (Nat King Cole/Irving Mills) (with KR & LCB)
Going Down to Liverpool (Kimberley Rew) (with KR & LCB)
Walking On Sunshine (Kimberley Rew) (with KR & LCB)
My Little Corner of the World (Bob Hillard/Lee Pockriss) (with Marilyn Kaplan on vocals)

This massive archiving effort was mentioned recently on the Live Music Archive thread, but wanted to call out that 5 prime 1993 YLT shows (plus 2 from 2013, still prime!) have shown up there so far and sound great.

https://archive.org/details/aadamjacobs?sort=-publicdate&and%5B%5D=creator%3A%22yo+la+tengo%22

! thanks for the heads up on those, hadn't scrolled through his entire collection yet.

also, still absolutely starving for an official live album from their recent tours, they've been so damned good every time I've seen them.

yeah they've found a new gear in recent years.

does anyone post the tracklists of the hanukkah mix cds anywhere? would love to check out the selections

Saw Yo La Tengo live Saturday night at the Howard Theatre in Washington DC. The Sun Ra Arkestra with 100 years old plus Marshall Allen opened. Then six members of the Arkestra joined Yo La Tengo for an hour of their set. A pretty good show . Only drawbacks were it felt a bit shorter than previous YLT gigs I have seen and Ira Kaplan did less of his noisy electric guitar work.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/yo-la-tengo/2025/the-howard-theatre-washington-dc-b5b1dfa.html

"more stars than there are in heaven" with sun ra... fuck

Had a ticket but had to ditch because of a fantasy baseball draft. I need to rethink some life decisions.

A memorable gig. As in the one YLT Chanukah gig I saw , it was impressive watching the 3 of them quickly moving around the stage and swapping instruments. It was also of course glorious seeing Marshall Allen stand up at times while playing along with the rest of his talented Arkestra.

It's Chanukah time and Jesse has all the details on the Yo La Tengo benefit gigs for the 8 nights

https://jessejarnow.com/2025/12/yo-la-tengo-hanukkah-2025-night-1-setlist/

He's posting on Bluesky about Chanukah gigs too

https://bsky.app/profile/bourgwick.bsky.social/post/3m7z2fayjjs2f

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euuSKbqmdaE

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/bonnie-prince-billy-matt-berninger-joined-yo-la-tengo-for-hanukkah-night-4-wyatt-cenac-lenny-kaye-more-pics-setlist-video/

https://jessejarnow.com/category/ylt/

Scrawl opening on night 3 and members of Scrawl joining in encores that night sounds great

opening up the whole thing with Neil's new anti-trump screed — better than the original!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL0DUlADG4U

Bonnie Prince Billy opened night #4, also joined by Matt Berninger of The National and Lenny Kaye.

This particular part of the encore must have been wild:

Trustfall (P!NK) (with Bonnie Prince Billy on vocals)

I was there! I think the vibe was "what song is this?" but Oldham was performing it passionately.

Not sure what it says that both my friend (who likes the National) and I (who definitely doesn't) both thought that when Berninger appeared onstage, it felt like the energy was sucked out of the room...

in a million years i wouldn't have figured norah jones as a likely guest for one of these shows, but she did the full encore last night and it was pretty damn great. they basically served as her backing band for half a dozen songs including a version of georgia's "tears are in your eyes" that melted me, a couple of her own, and the best version of "i'll be your baby tonight" i've heard in a long time.

ngl ylt's hannukah shows are the event I'd most love to attend that I know I never will

wish they'd tape them and release them

otm on both counts, i would love to make it to one of these nights some day, but so doubtful

https://jessejarnow.com/2025/12/yo-la-tengo-hanukkah-2025-night-8-setlist/

My wife and I were at the 8th night closer . I didn’t love opener Florry ( Philly alt-country w/ dashes of Gram Parsons, Greatful Dead, Meat Puppets but with female singers) or the comedian, but Yo La Tengo was wonderful. They first did a number of songs with horns including a version of New Orleans’ Al Carnival Johnson song changed to “It’s Chanukah Time” and a number of their own songs. To pay tribute to late Michael Hurley they brought on fiddlers Peter Stampfel and Stephanie Coleman, then the Yo La trio got noisy by themselves. Susanna Hoffs joined them for encores and Ira’s 95 years old Mom joined them to close out with the fiddles on Griselda and My Little Corner of the World. Ira did a long heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make it happen, read out fave Beatles songs of participants, and condemned the Trump admin .

Their set was great

insanely jealous of everyone who got to see scrawl!!

I saw Scrawl this summer at Union Pool, same day Oasis played their first NYC-area reunion show which led them to reminisce about opening for them: "They were such DICKS! But they were sooo good, you couldn't hate them....but still they were such DICKS!" Enormous fun, they also said they hadn't played NYC in 20 years, so I'm glad the next one was a lot sooner!

did they play 'your mother wants to know'?