Yo La Tengo

We got them to play Detouring America with Horns in the encore at Recher theater a few years ago. They take tons of request in the encores usually and don't like to play stuff they played on recent dates so check out some prior setlists if you can to see what not to request.

Originally posted by bearman:
Who else is going tonight?

Here are some songs I'm dying to hear:

Sudden Organ
Detouring America With Horns
Black Flowers
Beanbag Chair
Our Way to Fall
Damage
Stockholm Syndrome
I Was the Fool Beside You For Too Long
Did I Tell You

This should be a fun show.

i'll be there…i never miss a YLT show. they are consistently one of the best live bands of the past 20 years, and no two sets are ever the same.

Happy anniversary nkotb!

Originally posted by nkotb:
Unforunately, I'm out tonight. I'd love to be there, but the stress of some looming deadlines, a new puppy, and some last minute first-anniversary planning I haven't had time to do has me thinking it's better to skip. Should be a great show, though; the new album is fantastic.

Back in 1996 they played at the club with Helium and Labradford, and that was one of my favorite shows. It was spectacular…I also loved it when they opened for Teenage Fanclub at the old club and nearly blew them away. They were a tough act to follow.

I saw labradford open for superchunk at the trocadero in 1994. some kids were throwing pages of a magazine at them and mac mccaughn came out and yelled at them.


the kids….not labradford.

hahaha, that figures. i love labradford, but they were not the kind of band that should have opened for superchunk.

Fantastic show…most of the new record got played, and you could tell that folks were getting a little impatient with the new stuff, but I still thought it was really good for being the second night of their tour. Here's the setlist:

The Weakest Part
The Story of Yo La Tengo
Stockholm Syndrome
Little Eyes
Mr. Tough
Beanbag Chair
Song For Mahila
I Feel Like Going Home
I Should Have Known Better
Sudden Organ
Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind
Watch Out For Ronnie
From A Motel Six
Deeper Into Movies
Blue Line Swinger
—————–
You Can Have It All
She's My Best Friend (Velvet Underground)
(John Cale song)

I had to leave during the John Cale song…did they play anything after that? Why? were a decent opener, I liked some of their songs. Glad that I caught this show, the new material is really great.

I agree with Bearman – fantastic show. (Sorry nkotb; I know we're supposed to pretend that the shows you miss sucked.)

Great performance. Great crowd. Great sound. Really great job with the sound. Every little nuance came through. Much of that probably had to do with the crowd. You could have heard a pin drop during the mellow parts.

I didn't notice people getting impatient with the new material. The new stuff sounded as good live as it does on the album.

I split as soon as they were done with She's My Best Friend. The band left the stage at the same point; so unless they did a second encore, that was it.

They played an Arthur Lee song after giving him and Syd props.

They did a second encore–an Arthur Lee cover and then "Cherry Chapstick," as requested by a guy in the front row. Great, great show.

I thought the sequence of songs was weird. The Story of YLT as 2nd song?! The guitar part of Stockholm Syndrome was messed up. I thought the covers were far superior than the slow songs from the new album. Besides the guitar part of The Story of YLT, I thought the guitar work was a little too loud and excessive.

I personally love the new slow/quieter songs from the new record. In particular "I Feel Like Going Home" gives me chills. I think the loud crazy guitar is part of their whole sound, but I didn't think it was excessive, maybe because I've come to expect that from them. Sorry that I missed "Cherry Chapstick", but I had to be at work early…oh yeah, guess I should get back to it. Thanks for filling us in on those of us suckers that had to bail. :)

Originally posted by Joe M.:
I thought the sequence of songs was weird. The Story of YLT as 2nd song?! The guitar part of Stockholm Syndrome was messed up. I thought the covers were far superior than the slow songs from the new album. Besides the guitar part of The Story of YLT, I thought the guitar work was a little too loud and excessive.

Agreed with Joe. I was really hoping for 30-50% new album mixed in with older stuff. Of course, that was my first time seeing them so I am being selfish. But I was in the front and the guitar parts at some point were almost abrasive. Otherwise, they rocked a lot more than I thought they would, and it was a good show.

I've seen a ton of YLT shows. On the tours right after a new album comes out, they usually play most of the new songs plus a few oldies. It's on the subsequent tours that they usually mix things up more and dig into the catalog. I'm sure they'll be back around again soon.

And the second encore was "Paul is Dead." They didn't play "Cherry Chapstick"

Thanks of posting the setlist. You saved me alot of head-scratching time. It was interesting to watch Ira try to remember how to play Paul is Dead. I thought after awhile he would give up and ask for another request.

It was a great show. I agree that the crowd was not as into the new stuff. I had a bird's eye view from the 2nd level and was shocked that the crowd did not seem to be moving at all during some of the new songs. Perhaps the new stuff just hasn't sunk in yet, it's such a great record. It was hard for me to keep still during the whole show.

I was pretty pleased with the show, although I thought the first 1/4 of the setlist was kind of odd…but I guess it's just not what I would have wanted. I would definitely see them again, it was good to hear some of my favorite stuff off "I Can Hear…"

Whoops, you're right on "Paul Is Dead." I had "Cherry Chapstick" in my head from when Ira was debating which one to try.

Yeah, "Cherry Chapstick" was the girl's alternate request when Ira wasn't sure he could pull off "Paul Is Dead."

By the way, thanks for the congrats, brennser. It's an odd milestone to reach; it feels like the wedding was a lifetime ago and just yesterday at the same time.

We're actually sticking to the traditional gifts this go around (paper for one year) and a pretty small budget, since we're spending money returning to the place we got married and having dinner were we had the reception. It's proving to be a little more difficult than I would've thought!

Originally posted by brennser:
Happy anniversary nkotb!

Originally posted by nkotb:
Unforunately, I'm out tonight. I'd love to be there, but the stress of some looming deadlines, a new puppy, and some last minute first-anniversary planning I haven't had time to do has me thinking it's better to skip. Should be a great show, though; the new album is fantastic.

a review of this ran in the Post today
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/27/AR2006092701948.html

Yo La Tengo: Smooth Harmonies With Some Sharp Edges
Thursday, September 28, 2006; Page C05


Yo La Tengo's opening song Tuesday night at the 9:30 club, "The Weakest Part," has harmonies so sweet that it's hard to believe it comes from an album titled "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass." Thankfully, the trio rarely lived up to the gruffness of that title during a two-hour set: The group so excels at crisp, pretty pop songs that it would be a shame if it introduced roughness just for the sake of trying to stay fresh.

Even so, Yo La Tengo's version of pop is not all gloss, as sharper elements protruded from the songs' bouncy cocoon, such as Ira Kaplan's Neil Young-esque guitar solo on "Stockholm Syndrome," James McNew's sinister bass line on "Sudden Organ" and the lyrics about a scuffle on a train on the otherwise cheery-sounding "I Should Have Known Better." "Mr. Tough" found McNew and Kaplan singing together in a bizarre falsetto, while drummer Georgia Hubley switched to keyboards to sing the bewitchingly sedate "I Feel Like Going Home."

Yo La Tengo even managed to look backward with a fresh eye, offering a new, percussion-based rendition of an older song ("You Can Have It All"), paying tribute to the Velvet Underground ("She's My Best Friend") and indulging an audience request ("Paul Is Dead"), despite Kaplan's needing a few minutes to remember the song's chords.


– Catherine P. Lewis