Two things I need to be up front and honest about before I start this review of Saturday night's Sonic Youth show at the Uptown: I haven't listened to a Sonic Youth album all the way through since Murray Street, (maybe even A Thousand Leaves) and the one and only time I've seen Sonic Youth live was over 14 years ago, opening for R.E.M.
I like Sonic Youth as a casual fan. I'll listen to their records when folks put them on, and take an interest whenever they've got a new record on the way, but by no means am I intimately familiar with their catalog. That out of the way, I'd like to say that this was everything I've always expected of a Sonic Youth show: feedback, improvisation, loudness, etc. And, of course, 30 seconds into the first song, you could see little wisps of smoke curl up toward the ceiling, with a certain smell hot on its heels.
Thurston Moore and company didn't interact with the audience much. Between-song banter was kept to a minimum, and when it did occur, came across as mildly cryptic, such as Moore asking how many single moms were in the audience that evening, saying that it's "a demographic I'm very curious about," before launching into "Anti-Orgasm." I swear to God, it sounded like he called it "Anti-Wargasm," but my ears had been pretty brutalized by that point.
My casual fandom may be the reason for a certain amount of exhaustion that set in somewhere mid-set. By the time the band hit the end of The Eternal (the new album, played almost in its entirety) and went offstage before the first encore, I was wiped. After a point, the strobe lights, audience-annoyance lights (the ones that flash outward to the crowd, rather than down on the band), and massive amounts of free-form feedback freakout, it feels like you're not just at a show. The feeling transcends that, and you're experiencing the show physically.
Sonic Youth played two encores, and by the end of the night, they'd played for nearly two hours. Anyone hoping for the "hits" probably went away disappointed, but considering the number of faces I recognized in the crowd as concert-going regulars and musicians, most folks weren't there to hear "Bull In the Heather." The setlist, thanks to the Sonic Youth forum, went as follows:
The Eternal (minus "Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn", and non-sequentially)
Tom Violence
Silver Rocket
White Cross
encore 1
the Wonder
Hyperstation
encore 2
What We Know
PCH
Openers Awesome Color were neither awesome nor colorful. It's quite possible that there were as many people near the drinks counter as there were watching their set. I understand that they're on Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, but they weren't winning any new fans last night. The band was very blues-rock, and really, just boring. Awesome Color are one of those bands that have great song intros, but terrible follow-through. The first five seconds of every song elicited a positive response, but then people would go back to talking with their friends or texting. Frontman Derek Stanton's voice was more suited to rockabilly, with a flat nasal twang that went in and out of tune as often as the band went in and out of sync. You could look out across the audience and see who was listening to what instrument by seeing in what time their head was bobbing.
A fun show, if a bit tiring. The audience started out a bit sparse, and I heard from someone at the window that they'd only pre-sold something like 500 tickets. Still, the Uptown's lower level -- the balcony was closed off -- filled up nicely, and I've never seen people freak out over a band the way I did Saturday night.
A new album is usually met with polite indifference from the audience, but Sonic Youth's fans went just as fist-pumpingly ecsatic for "Sacred Trickster" as they did for Daydream Nation's "The Wonder." Now those are fans, and with an audience like that, it's no surprise the band rocked out harder and longer at over 40 than most new acts manage to do in their 20s.
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Ugh, Awesome Color. They sucked when they opened for Dinosaur Jr., and they're one reason I skipped this show.
I've seen them more than a dozen times, and despite the inevitable complaints of not hearing more from their MASSIVE catalog, I understand why they chose the songs that they did and was really happy to hear songs from Sister, Evol, and Daydream Nation.
Easily one of the noisiest sets I've seen them play, and nearly every bit as energetic as they've ever been.
More than anything, I'm glad this show happened HERE rather than Lawrence or skipping our region altogether. Same goes for Low, Dino Jr., and Tortoise later this summer!
Also, it's too bad Awesome Color was not to your liking (or, evidently, the crowd's). They were pretty cool when they played with Be Your Own Pet at the Grand Emporium in '06, in that venue's final throes as a quasi-live-music club. (Click on my name for review.)
SY got to play under the Big Mono-Arch U.S.A. in St. Louis with fireworks and everything. No wonder it was a more exciting show!
awesome pictures. that second to last one's so crisp I can count the hairs on Thurston's head.
"what we know" stands up to any past SY stuff. hands down.
maybe the band was tired from Friday night in St. Louis. their set was INSANE. we got the Daydream Nation "The Sprawl"/"'Cross the Breeze" one-two punch, AND "shadow of a doubt." PCH nearly melted down the stage.
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