Yo La Tengo live

for anyone who cares: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/22594311245/i-can-hardly-wait-yo-la-tengo-best-band-ever
7 live versions of "big day coming" over the years. I know, might not sound that exciting, but it is! it is!

colour me excited, tyler!

tyler, is it possible to find the shows on the ylt database online anywhere?

not that i know of, sadly. I'm going to be posting a bunch of highlights though -- i don't even have that much of it, i just have a source who is providing a bunch of live YLT.

thx tyler. i really love yo la tengo.

yeah it's fun stuff -- listening to a bunch of these live recordings, it's clear they're more in the vein of NRBQ than the VU. Kind of like the ultimate neighborhood band (who somehow made it big).

At first I lolled at NRBQ comparison, but it's actually rather apt. I was telling a friend just recently that NRBQ were "record collector rock," in the sense that why NOT combine Sun rockabilly, Lovin' Spoonful pop and Sun Ra skronk; they obviously loved all those things. And YLT does a similar thing with their influences, for sure.

yeah i mean obviously there are big differences, but just the approach -- almost like both bands tap into an alternate american songbook kind of thing (both with covers and originals).

nrbq/yung wu members are regular guests for ylt's hanukkah shows

really, nrbq have played those things? i know yung wu/feelies/etc always show up.

well, terry adams has

cool, yeah at this point it'd be weirder if someone from nrbq *hadn't* played with YLT. they've played with everyone.

that first, epic big day coming gets really delicious and spacey 16 minutes in

ha, yeah, it almost turns into some kind of 4AD/cocteau twins thing. really is great -- i wasn't too excited about a 27-minute big day coming when it started but i was a believer by the end.

what is the rest of that show like??

that's all they played that night, i think! they just jumped on a bill w/ sleepyhead and love child at the last minute.

pretty excited about hearing those versions of "Big Day Coming"!

when I saw them on the And Nothing... tour they opened with like a 45 minute version of "Night Falls On Hoboken" & I couldn't figure out where they could go from there. tbh they didn't really go anywhere; it was a weird mellow night, only one short electric solo (on "Cherry Chapstick"), with the gong player, you guys were probably there too, you know what I mean.

could def go for a compilation of diff versions of night falls tbh. and also cherry chapstick.

just put up a new one -- Yo La Does Dylan http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/22844703264/yo-la-tengo-does-dylan-sunsquashed-archives

i was really worried that your blog was gonna die out when your mediafire links went down. so happy

http://sydneytapes.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/freewheelin-with-yo-la-tengo.html (link in comments)

this is a really cool Freewheelin' show. I think the talking/answers are actually better than the music, and it's an awesome setlist. Phone interference dies out after like the 25 minute mark too. It isn't split up though

cool, thanks for the link! those freewheeling shows are fun.
yeah, kinda keeping the blog rolling in a hopefully low-key way. next up is a totally great fakebook era comp.

tyler, do you have their london royal festival hall performance, hosted by john peel? i was in the audience for that, and have a recording on CD that's ace - Ira tussles manfully with some awful technical difficulties throughout, but the band are entirely charming, and they open with a totally enchanting trip thru Night Falls On Hoboken (i could totally listen to a CD of multiple takes of that song). i can try and upload it if you've not heard it yet.

i do have that one -- the long, opening "night fall on hoboken" right? great show. i think part of this "sunsquashed" archives thing will be an ambient/epic compilation that will definitely include a version of "hoboken".

aye, that's the one...

aight, here's another one http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/23231602272/a-world-of-funny-changes-more-from-the
really great stuff, live shows/in-stores/radio sessions all from the Fakebook era.

another one of these! http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/23741012089/number-15-spotlight-on-james-mcnew-sunsquashed
spotlight on james mcnew/dump.

From the Neil Young voting thread:

yo la tengo's probably one of the more adventurous bands when it comes to setlists, at least in my experience. i don't think there's anything in their catalog that they wouldn't at least give a go.

― tylerw, Friday, July 6, 2012 2:14 AM (9 hours ago)

Do they do anything from Ride the Tiger these days? IIRC, Ira was either embarrassed by it or felt it was a Dave Schramm album (or both). Love that record so much.

Does 'The Evil That Men Do' count?

Yes. Yes it does. Although I'd like to hear them (or Dave Schramm) do "The Way Some People Die" or "Five Years," sometime.

think i've seen "the empty pool" and "alrock's bells" crop up on a few setlists recently, but yeah, that is probably the record they draw from the least. those songs might just show up when they do a random hanukkah gig with schramm.

just posted another ylt live thing -- Sun Ra Tengo! This one is a lot of fun: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/30995666916/or-the-i-ra-arkestra-of-all-the-hundreds

Heh, great timing tyler, I just got done reading the bit in the book where Jarnow talks about YLT meeting up with the members of the Arkestra and playing with them.

Hanukkah shows in Hoboken happening this year (12/8-15), tix on sale next week.

sold out already apparently!

got hooked up for the 12th....

http://yolatengo.com/schedule.html

looks like at least Monday & Saturday finale still available.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2012/12/the_raybeats_em.html

I'm missing Wyatt Cenac tom'w apparently, dammit

What I love about the Hanukah shows is that they allow YLT to actually have fun. I can't think of the last time I saw the band where Ira and Georgia looked much more than joyless, and that includes a Condo Fucks show, though I guess I missed the spinning wheel tour, which may have been a concerted effort to liven things up.

Judging by the photo the band tweeted, it looked like the Arkestra was with 'em last night.

Yep. Would have liked seeing the Raybeats open (on night one). Plus this Yo La Tengo cover with guest:

The Kid With the Replaceable Head (Richard Hell) (with Jody Harris of the Raybeats/Contortions on guitar)

rumor is i'm gettin L3e R4n4ldo

Josh I think they just have a game face when they play. Anyone going on Wednesday? I think that's when I'll be there.

yeah that's when i'm goin

It may be a game face, but it's definitely stopped me from enjoying shows as of late. I used to look forward to YLT live c. 93, 94, 95. But now it's kind of a slog. Oh well. Perhaps it is just me.

lee ranaldo

^ correct spelling

have never seen ylt not thoroughly enjoying a show (not even the 1999 royal festival hall show where their gear glitched all the way through) tbh

http://slowshutter.org/yolatengo/120912/

some good pics a friend took.

gonna listen to yo la tengo today. good band.

new album is strong