Karenology

If anyone has a recording of the show, I have all kinds of tapes I could trade for it. It would possibly be better than any of their albums. "Kissability" and "Silver Rocket" have never sounded that good to me. "Shadow Of a Doubt" has never been that close to heaven.

the D.C. show last week was far and away the best SY show I've ever seen, just spectacular. great to hear "Kissability" ("Shadow" was better on the 98 tour, though), and for once, it was the new songs that really held it together. "Rain On Tin" never really stuck out to me on the album, but live it was absolutely blissful - just try to imagine people freaking out and cheering in the middle of a long instrumental section of a new song, it was just that amazing and unexpected.

goddamn, i'm really upset i have to miss this now.

This is all rather promising sounding. :-) Roll on Terrastock.

I saw them on the previous tour, when O'Rourke had just joined, and they were terrifc then, as well. I'm guessing that having a new member who can play pretty much any instrument, can write songs and record/engineer/produce, knows something about improvising etc., has maybe all helped to get them re-enthused - and having three guitar players now, as well as a bassist, adds to the 'thickness' of the sound.

I thought the show from the last tour was fun but this was on a whole other level. (And I really liked NYC G&F at the time whereas I had hardly any interest in or enthusiasm for Murray Street before the show. Had even sold off a few of their albums.) I don't know if I ever really thought they were this good at their instruments. They'd jam these interlocking melodies against each other and gradually shift tempo and dynamics while staying perfectly in sync. When they played on the last tour, they often cut out or toned down the noise sections of some songs. This time they expanded them with such mastery in terms of dynamics and texture. I think O'Rourke was doing some on-stage processing. They didn't shy away from extended moments of searing noise but they were able to build up to and come down from them or change their shape as well. They added whole other sections and layers to "Silver Rocket". The new songs were surprisingly great, at least the way they were jammed out live. "Rain On Tin" was gorgeous. I'm scared to buy the album out of fear that it will be a letdown. It was like Al said - people cheered after or sometimes during instrumental breaks like they were jazz solos. Even after the second encore, no one would leave. Everyone stayed and called for a third encore until it was clear that the roadies were taking down the on-stage equipment. They just didn't inspire anywhere near that kind of enthusiasm at the other two shows I've seen.

(You got "Shadow Of a Doubt" in '98, Al? In Toronto they just played material from A Thousand Leaves, "Anagrama", and "Death Valley '69" for an encore.)

Bardo Pond wasn't bad BTW. They reminded me of VU jams from 1966 live tapes.

Sonic Youth was wonderful in mtl as well.

Yes, it was the Montreal show I was raving about, sorry if that wasn't clear. I still live here until the end of the month.