I had the fortune to see that Yo La Tengo was playing this past Thursday night and snatched up some tickets to what turned out to be one of the best live shows I've ever seen, period.
When I read some concert reviews I was a little but uneasy since there were a lot of negative ones but then again, when have I ever let someone ELSE tell me what is good and what isn't? I mean, I don't like 95% of what the Beatles did and *gasp* I like Joy Division's first album Unknown Pleasures, a little more than their second album, Closer, the one critics tell me I should like more. People complained about Ira Kaplan's use of feedback which is something I'm normally a proponent of but still I was scared.
It was a bitch to find parking since my friends and I were a little late and I was worried that we might be missing another band opening for Yo La Tengo that I really like called "Times New Viking" but we entered Warehouse Live just in time. TNR rocked very hard. The lineup consisted of a drummer, guitarist, and organist; the first and last provided vocals. They were very loud, fast, and interesting. I really heard a lot of Velvet Underground and Modern Lovers in their punky, feedback-laden playing just as I did in their studio recordings. They weren't perfect but they definitely didn't suck.
Then Yo La Tengo came on and they opened with a cool, very spacey, progressive-rock-sounding, yet strangely minimalist number called "Nutricia". They played lots of songs from their newest album "Popular Songs" and a lot from their preceding album "I am not afraid of you and will beat your ass" and even a few I'd never heard of before. The variety of songs, tempos, volumes, and styles they played totally lived up to the eclectic nature of the entire YLT discography and made for an extremely lively and engaging show.
Pretty early on in the show, like three songs in, Kaplan said to the audience "this one is going to be a long show, whether everyone likes it or not!" to which we all replied with cheering and whistling and hooting and clapping. That's when I knew that the show was only going to keep getting better.
One of the funnier moments, albeit infuriating as well, was when some drunk dickhead yelled out "play sugar cube!!!" loudly enough for everyone to notice his drunkness and dickheadedness. The reason this outburst was funny is because YLT had already played "Sugar cube" a few songs earlier. I swear, these people are at every concert. They come to hear one song because it's popular and it's the only damn song they know. These idiots refuse to do there homework or delve into a band's discography. Why they pay 20 dollars to hear one song when they can simply pick up the album and learn at least to or three more songs, the day of the concert, is perplexing to me. It's sort of like when I saw the White Stripes and some bratty, liquored-up, yuppie girl kept yelling "fellinlovewithagirl!" over and over again. These stunods should just stay home and listen to their favorite one song looped over and over again while they drool on themselves.
Even though the whole set was all incredible, some of my favorite songs live were: Periodically Double and Triple, All your Secrets, If it's True, Here to Fall, Hankypanky Nowhow (this is a John Cale cover), More Stars Than There Are in Heaven, Nothing to Hide, and "Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind".
Kaplan jumped around from Keyboards, to guitar, to drums throughout the show and reminded us all how talented he is at each one and how dynamic each band member is (Georgia Hubley left her drums and played guitar in some songs and James McNew left the bass and played guitar and keyboard for other songs).
They were so passionate and obviously cared very much about pleasing the audience and playing a good set which, unfortunately, is a lot more than I can say about a lot of bands I've seen (even some of the best ones I've seen). I've never seen another musician live besides maybe Thom Yorke, who displayed as much passion and feeling while playing as Ira Kaplan did. You could see it in his face, his belabored movements, and the way he caressed his guitar and closed his eyes while playing. I was so lucky to catch them.
After the show I watched a cool local oldies band play in the other room and let my ears recover from the YLT set which was pretty loud at times. They're called the Allen Oldies Band and they played a pretty respectable set of cool oldies tunes like Woolly Bully and the like. After watching them play I had the privilege of meeting up with Ira Kaplan as I was walking out of Warehouse and let me tell you, he is a great guy. He was really nice and approachable and gladly answered my questions about YLT. I've even got the proof above. Apparently, just minutes after I left they played a set with the Allen Oldies Band though and continued on until 2 (doh!).
All in all, EXCELLENT show. One of the best live shows I've ever attended.
Beginning of "Here to Fall"^
Some sweet feedback from I forget which song. Watch Ira go!
A chunk of "Periodically Double and Triple"
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