Yo La Tengo live

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I was at both 3-11-2000 shows, matinee and late, at the GAMH in San Francisco — and they were fantastic. But they were supporting an album I liked a lot, and Lambchop was the support, so the circumstances were all good. But then I saw them last year in Memphis and they kinda sucked. Antietam opened and were boring, and it was summer and 912 degrees, YLT was supporting an album I don't like at all, and like Zach said, their "Nuclear War" goes on forfuckingever.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Friday, 2 December 2005 02:33 (eighteen years ago) link

i still count the first couple times i saw them (at the late, not very lamented LA club the Alligator Lounge) as among the best shows i've ever attended. that was back in 95, when they were supporting electra pura. they sounded pretty mind blowing to me and my other 16 year old friends. since then, i've seen them a bunch and have enjoyed each show, but these days they may be trying to squeeze a bit too much into a set--leaping haphazardly from goofy covers to noise freakouts to whispery ballads to epic jams. i like all of that, but the last time i saw them, i wished they'd just stick with one or two of those styles...

― Tyler Wilcox (tylerw), Friday, 2 December 2005 03:08 (eighteen years ago) link

The Hanukkah shows are pretty much always great.

― cdwill, Friday, 2 December 2005 03:22 (eighteen years ago) link

I've seen 'em more than a few times; their Lollapolooza show was pretty much what got me into indie rock (well, the organ freakout in False Alarm). I wasn't as wild about the last few times I saw them, including playing with The Clean (who were surprisingly good), but I like the freakouts. And I've never seen 'em be bad, just that sometimes I think they'd be more worth it at $8 than $16.

― js (honestengine), Friday, 2 December 2005 05:22 (eighteen years ago) link

I saw them at the Alligator back around then, Tyler, was 28th Dye opening? I remember some goofballs in the audience were trying to clap along with "Speeding Motorcycle" and failing.

I've loved them both times I've seen them, and like all the LPs, though And Nothing... doesn't get much play.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 2 December 2005 08:24 (eighteen years ago) link

no i didn't see them with 28th dye. the opening acts were run on and chris knox, i believe. i also recall that tabitha soren was at one of the shows...ah, tabitha.

― Tylerw (tylerw), Friday, 2 December 2005 15:01 (eighteen years ago) link

I've got to be in double digits with YLT shows. The only time I saw them put on a bad performance was at Irving Plaza one time, they brought on this free jazz horn section to play along for about 70% of the set. Really irritating stuff...it sounded like an experimental Boz Scaggs cover band.

But other than that, they've never been bad. And I told Ira Kaplan he was a Rock God at Maxwells one time, and he was doubled over laughing with (or at) me. I was pretty drunk at the time.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 2 December 2005 15:10 (eighteen years ago) link

I've seen them 30+ times I think. You really don't hafta LOVE them to enjoy the Hanukkah shows for their vaudeville aspect; the one I saw last year opened with some 12-year-olds doing punk covers, a reunion of the Shams, the comedian Patton Oswalt (who shocked me by being funny) and then YLT with Wreckless Eric for encores.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 December 2005 15:14 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Ira's Hanukkah marathon diary:

http://www.yolatengo.com/ylt/hanukkah2005diary.html

I was at the Sun Ra Arkestra show Wednesday, which was fine (esp the jammy version of "Little Honda") except I found the comedians only mildly amusing.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 2 January 2006 17:01 (eighteen years ago) link

yo la tengo have never disappointed me live.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 2 January 2006 17:52 (eighteen years ago) link

Those Chanukah shows with Lennie Kaye,David Johansen, Lois Mafeo, and Half Jap must have been great. I think the one with Tortoise must have been less happening, unless you like those long long jams.

― Curmudgeon Steve (Steve K), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 01:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Two of the five or so greatest shows I've seen were YLT shows, and I don't wear indie-rock glasses or ringer shirts. However, after the quality of their albums nosedived (starting with And Then Nothing..., depressingly solidified with the monumentally mediocre Summer Sun), their live shows took a similar hit.

Their pieces with new-music horn players (Arkestra, Sabir Mateen, etc.) are the most disappointing collaborations since Dim Stars.

YLT were almost the Who circa 1968. Now they're the Who circa 1989. A huge and tragic waste.

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 08:47 (eighteen years ago) link

did anyone catch their maxwell's show this new year's eve?

― it was jody that killed the beast (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 08:48 (eighteen years ago) link

As someone said to me when we were picking a night for this year: "Hoboken, New Year's Eve, no thank you."

"Tragic waste" is a ridiculous overstatement even if you don't like the horn stuff. Having the same approach to your shows in 1992 and 2005 would be ossification.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 14:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Their pieces with new-music horn players (Arkestra, Sabir Mateen, etc.) are the most disappointing collaborations since Dim Stars.

The double 7" is spectacular. Nuclear War 12, not so much.

I have to agree though, some of the best shows I've ever seen were Yo La Tengo shows. When they're on, they're on.

― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:56 (eighteen years ago) link

"Having the same approach to your shows in 1992 and 2005 would be ossification." Dr Morbius (wjwe...), January 3rd, 2006.

Yea, but there are other approaches they could have taken (and could still take?) without "ossification'.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 3 January 2006 19:10 (eighteen years ago) link

six months pass...

Anyone seen them do the score to the Painleve science movies? $3 in Prospect Park tonight.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 July 2006 18:32 (seventeen years ago) link

yes - it's definitely worth $3. (and the soundtrack CD is definitely worth $12.)

― rajeev (rajeev), Thursday, 13 July 2006 18:59 (seventeen years ago) link

It may be worth it for $3. I saw them do it for $23 Tuesday night. They got a standing ovation but the only part I really got into was a rocking noise jam they played to a film on how octopi have sex. For the most part otherwise, there were interesting things happening but I had a hard time finding much of a connection between the music and the films. There were stretches where I just found the music dull, with 4/4 slowcore drums, really basic keyboard loops, and guitar effects that didn't really seem to generate that much in the way of texture. I dunno, they did lots of things that should interest me in theory - extended guitar effects, analog electronics, ambient improv, etc - but somehow it just didn't really come together the way I hoped it would. I actually felt like it distracted from the films. I had to focus on one or the other. I was really tired though. (But I did enjoy the noise I saw at SoundLab afterwards.)

xpost

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 13 July 2006 19:05 (seventeen years ago) link

it was pretty good but the part were you're standing to the right of the sound booth (tower?) and these people keep yelling at you to sit down and you move over so like you're basically behind a guy that was already standing except like half of your body and they're still yelling at you so you turn around and say something like stand up motherfuckers - rock show and then when you turn around they throw maybe a cup or something like that at you and then the whole thing ends pretty much right then and you go over and demand an apology and at first they're like we don't know what you're talking about but then one of them admits to it but they're all standing up is just as bad as throwing something at someone and you disagree and then they start to make the lamest insults like you have no friends you're short and then try to run away so you follow them out and try to get a word in outside the venue and the largest one gets all in your face and is trying to be all menacing but is obv such a pussy and you tell him that he's not at all scary and then he's like i'mna get the cops and you're like what'd i do? besides demand an apology - you could've just said you were sorry instead of being such inane lameasses. you think you should be able to throw things at people with impunity. your level of bullshit entitlement is v high. when you throw something at me that's the start of a relationship then you call them eunuchs. that part was pretty sweet. the movie and all was pretty nice, but the sound was way to quiet for where i was siting way in back hence trying to catch some of it a bit closer.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:06 (seventeen years ago) link

i thought you were standing

― DAVE's secret to fortu-Oh look! Shiny! (dave225.3), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:11 (seventeen years ago) link

it is true, i was standing. but so were many others. and is sitting somehow more valid than standing? especially at packed rock show!

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:14 (seventeen years ago) link

i don't like sitting at rock shows. sitting is good for tv watching.

― DAVE's secret to fortu-Oh look! Shiny! (dave225.3), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:15 (seventeen years ago) link

their argument was that it was a movie. it was a movie and a rock show. but really people came to see the rock band not the movie.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Was it rocky horror? you can throw things at rocky horror; but standing is also acceptable. Those guys didn't have a leg to stand on, so to speak, hah ha.

― DAVE's secret to fortu-Oh look! Shiny! (dave225.3), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:23 (seventeen years ago) link

i should've just thrown rice at them and called it a day.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:37 (seventeen years ago) link

I must've been standing within 20 yards of you, jhoshea, but I was further away from the mayhem.

(also, you literally couldn't see the band whether you were standing or not. I had no qualms about standing cuz I arrived after 9, and any everyone-sits protocol was out the window by then.)

In addition to the octopi-sex score, I like the funk stuff for "Shrimp Stories."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:42 (seventeen years ago) link

(also, the show was about reason #5000 why I'm glad to be leaving Pk Slope)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:49 (seventeen years ago) link

and it wasn't a fucking rock show.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:52 (seventeen years ago) link

it's true.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:54 (seventeen years ago) link

WAIT, are you that short asshole who wouldn't fucking sit down?

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link

OMG THAT WAS ME!!!!

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:19 (seventeen years ago) link

i totally PEGGED you with that solo cup during the Bro La Tengo show.

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:23 (seventeen years ago) link

you hurt my feelings bad man - say you're sorry.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:28 (seventeen years ago) link

why did you say i wasn't scary when i tried to menace you? that really hurt man.

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

shoulda said "i am not afraid and i will beat yr ass"

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

nah, i was way in the back. any and all etiquette usually gets tossed out the window at those things. someone tried to reserve a spot with a splayed out maclaren stroller and a bunch of patchouli smelling co-op workers chucked it over the fence to make room..

fun performance, but i'm with Morbs, really not a rock show at all. here's an interesting essay on Painlevé and a video example:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/25/painleve.html
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8604649289441675492

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link

if you wouldn't sit down, you should've at least read us the captions. in harmony.

― marc h. (marc h.), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link

the captions were kind lame i thought - a nature doc in verse wtf?

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:36 (seventeen years ago) link

the captions shoulda been dropped i think.. bit of a distraction. not that i could even see the screen, being half behind a tree.

also, i noticed Love Life of the Octopus was originally scored by Pierre Henry. pretty bold of them to redo that one.

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:38 (seventeen years ago) link

the captions were kind lame i thought - a nature doc in verse wtf?

i would've liked to have made my own decision, is all.

it was a fun show!

― marc h. (marc h.), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:58 (seventeen years ago) link

agreed - little louder would've been nice. always fun to hang around with friend and listen to music. although the place was teeming - never seen it that crowded.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:06 (seventeen years ago) link

tv on the radio was crowdeder, i thought, but yeah. too bad the opener wasn't louder, also

― marc h. (marc h.), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:12 (seventeen years ago) link

didn't see tv on the radio but every time i've been there's big stretches of the lawn wide open. this was my first prospect park indie rock experience though - that must be what draws around there.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:19 (seventeen years ago) link

a little louder doesn't help much when 70% of the crowd is babbling nonstop throughout the show, but I've given up on this getting anything but worse.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 July 2006 15:07 (seventeen years ago) link

In addition to the octopi-sex score, I like the funk stuff for "Shrimp Stories."

Yeah, that was the next-best part for me too. I wondered why the drummer was so sleepy the rest of the time.

― Sundar (sundar), Friday, 14 July 2006 21:25 (seventeen years ago) link

james mcnew looks like the offsrping of perpetua and ned raggett

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 21:37 (seventeen years ago) link

at right

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/1755/218yola0ne.jpg

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 21:37 (seventeen years ago) link

(What was wrong with the captions? How would you have known what was going on otherwise? But yes, I would also like to have seen the films with the original Pierre Henry and Milhaud scores. I strongly suspect I'd like them better.)

― Sundar (sundar), Friday, 14 July 2006 21:39 (seventeen years ago) link

there is nothing wrong with the captions.. if your intent is to watch these films as pure documentaries then I suppose the descriptive text is important.

but its by no means necessary to have captions in a film/sound performance such as this, as you're there for the interplay between image and sound. captions distract to a certain extent, but its a minor quibble.

― fongoloid sangfroid (sanskrit), Friday, 14 July 2006 22:04 (seventeen years ago) link

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I am glad to hear. I love those records but have never seen them live (Aislers Set, I have seen Yo La Tengo many times). Maybe they will get the bug and play again.

― grandavis, Monday, 18 December 2023 17:36 (four months ago) link

I only saw Aislers Set once and it was also 20 years ago but not supporting YLT, they were headlining. I think Comet Gain and the Would-Be-Goods were supporting them. Yes, it was, and the Lucksmiths

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 18 December 2023 23:13 (four months ago) link

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