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[jefflewis]

(My review)
Okay, just got home from the YLT/Feelies show at Town Hall! It was the Yo La Tengo "30th Anniversary" concert.
The Feelies were basically perfect, completely intense and committed, I'd never seen them before (tho I have every album) and it was everything I'd want from a Feelies show. If you haven't seen them, do it!!!!
The YLT set - also (ALMOST) perfect... strangely NO songs from my favorite album, Electropura (?!?!?!) and (thankfully) NO songs from Summer Sun, and I think even NO songs from their most recent album (Fade) (also sorta thankfully, since it's one of their "boring Yo La Tengo" albums for the most part). Opener was one of the only two songs I really liked on the recent "Popular Songs" album, I forget the title, it's on side 3 I think (of the vinyl). Totally enjoyable as an opening song, with James & Ira both on guitar. Second song was Moby Octopad - awesome - with Ira on keyboard! Sounded utterly perfect in this arrangement. At this point I was officially in YLT ecstasy. Unfortunately our seats (me & my drummer Heather, and my friend Rachel) were second row, waaaaaay on the James side of the biiiiig, wiiiiiide stage, so we could barely even see/hear Ira for much of the set (our view of him was blocked by the big bulky old keyboard in front of James... ). We heard way more out of James' big amps than from Ira's amps faaaar on the other side. Anyway... third song - "Upside-Down", from May I Sing With Me (most under-rated YLT album)! Love this album, love this song, saw them play it once long ago and Georgia still doesn't sing the vocal melody on it properly but it was still awesome to see/hear it. Then I think was "Our Way to Fall" (that songs that goes "we try and try... cuz we're on our way to falling in love...") from Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. I'm usually mostly bored by that album, but in the right context the songs are quite nice, and I do like this song, and it was well-placed in the set. Note that at this point they had been doing one song each from a wide range of albums, a set-building strategy which I LOVE. And it went on like this, each song from a different album. Onwards to "Mr. Tough" from the I Am Not Afraid of You album, not my favorite song on that album, but still I like it, and it was well-placed in the set, and continued the now-established game of each-song-from-a-different-album. Then upping the ante into awesomeness ( tho I might be forgetting the exact order) was "Sudden Organ" from Painful, and this just might be my top favorite YLT song, I did see them do it once in the past. Added bonus was that Ira had to cross over to James' side of the stage to play the keyboard for this, so we got him over close to us. And the drummer and percussionist from the Feelies got onstage to add percussion to it (saving Ira from having to play the maracas with one hand as in the past, tho it was cooler when he used to do that). THeir old guitarist from the early days Dave Schramm got onstage and they did... "The Cone of Silence", first song from their first album (Ride the Tiger), I love this song and I've never seen them play it live. It was great. SUrprisingly Dave (not Ira) played the rippin' guitar solo, and apparently Dave is the one who played the solo on the album version too. Then they followed this with another song from Ride the Tiger, the one with the horn solo in it, great song but I forget the title, is it The River of Water? Or The Pain of Pain? SOmething like that? This old dude got on stage in the middle of it and blew a crazy trombone solo at the right time, then got offstage. Apparently it was a guy from the old band The Scene Is Now. Then they got him to come back on stage to do a The Scene Is Now song, which we all know is gonna be... Yellow Sarong! (from Fakebook) Again, I think I've never seen them do this one live, and it sure brought back the memories, what a great song. Are you with me so far?! Dig it! At that point they had played stuff from like almost every single album!! Glen Mercer of the Feelies got on stage on guitar to augment a great version of "Barnaby, Hardly Working" - which, although it is also on Fakebook, is on the "President Yo La Tengo" album, so at THIS point in the set I think the only albums NOT represented are Fade, Electropura, Summer Sun and New Wave Hot Dogs. And that's the way it stayed. I thought it was odd that they ended up playing FOUR songs from Painful and nothing from Electropura, but I guess they are sort of touring to promote the new expanded edition reissue of Painful. The set started to get a little less exciting after that... "I Heard You Looking", which is always sort of just a lesser version of Blue Line Swinger... as usual, it was not-too-exciting and too long... but they had both Feelies guitarists onstage adding to the guitar noise. There was also another one of those mellow boring songs, I forget if it is on Popular Songs or Fade, it was okay, but it was just one of those "mediocre/standard YLT" sort of things. And "Sugar Cube", which is always sorta nice to hear but also sort of in the "standard YLT" category. Let's see, what else... I forget. Oh yeah, a nice version of From a Motel 6, with Glen Mercer on guitar. What else... For the encore they started with a nice acoustic version of Big Day Coming, no drums, Georgia taking center stage to sing, while Ira played acoustic. They brought ALL 5 of the Feelies back on stage for a song that I didn't recognize, partially I couldn't barely hear it because from my side of the waaaaay left of the stage I could only hear mostly the Feelies guys and could barely hear Ira, I think it might have been a Neil Young song that I don't know, or something else. It was the only song of the entire set that I didn't know, I'm proud to say! Then the final song was, apparently the final song of their first ever gig, 30 years and two days previously, at Maxwell's... which Glen Mercer also joined them onstage for, way back when... they announced that it was the final song of their earliest show, and started playing it, it took me a few seconds of trying to figure out what it was, but then I realized it was the Psychedelic Furs "Pretty in Pink", kind of nice and cool, not mind-blowing, but a nice way to end. THeir tour manager Joe remembered me from when my band had toured with Los Campesinos, when he was tour managing them, and he gave me and my companions backstage all-access passes! SO we went backstage and had a beer among the crowd in the little greenroom, didn't talk to Ira or Georgia or James, but chatted with Emily Hubley and her son and her husband, and also with tour manager Joe, and with guitar tech Dutch (whom I met when I was on tour with Super Furry Animals and he was their guitar tech). So it was a really nice night, and I'm pleased to feel like YLT are still basically the perfect indie rock band.

PS - Wait, I mixed it up... the song early in the set from Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out was "Tears Are in Your Eyes", and the FINAL song of the set was "Our Way to Fall" - but my comments hold true regardless!

PPS - when I recognized Pretty in Pink it was BEFORE the chorus happened (just to make sure I get full credit for recognizing the song).

PPPS - wait, they DID do a song from "Fade", that song "Is That Enough"... sorry, all that sort of latter-day mellow-YLT stuff is often kind of same-y to my ears so I can't differentiate it. But anyway... NO songs from Electropura.

[misshelenc]

Did you write this 'for' something or just to remember it yourself or...? Thanks for sharing it anyway, always good to read your stuff. I think I'd read your shopping list, I love your way with words so much.
It seems appropriate that there was a range of songs from throughout their career given it was an anniversary concert, I'm glad you got a good mix and some of your favourites cropped up, that is always a massive bonus! I can't believe it's been 30 years, obviously I didn't know them at 1 year old but have done for a long time and I suppose it is possible... well done for them.
I hope you have more nice nights out in the near future and can post something about them too. I haven't got any at the moment, but it's actually a good thing as I am constantly ill. I am snuggling a hot water bottle as I type and only want my sofa and pyjamas!
xxxxx
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[jefflewis]

I wrote it so some Yo La Tengo fans (if there are any on the message board!) can get a glimpse at the set list and all that stuff, I love how at old Grateful Dead shows there was always a lot of discussion afterwards of the set lists and who came up on stage and all that stuff! And I wanted to write it all fast before I couldn't remember all the details (I didn't take notes during the show... maybe I should have!)...
I guess I could write these sorts of reviews for other shows too... but Yo La Tengo is such a special case, so many songs over so many years, and they are also always into surprising the audience with the songs and the order and all of that stuff, and every night is different... It's amazing how many songs they can remember how to do!

[misshelenc]

Aww very sweet of you, how considerate to other people that read and post here, I'm sure there are other fans are around, I don't know enough about them to really appreciate everything you wrote sadly. It's true that if you don't write it down then it disappears, although I'm pretty sure that writing notes would somehow be a shame given that you've paid to watch and enjoy. I see people writing set lists on phones and stuff when I'm at gigs sometimes and it does make me feel a bit depressed. It's not so bad if it's your job but still feels like a shame. Same as filming all the songs on a phone and not actually watching any of it with your own eyes or just enjoying the moment and letting your favourite songs take you away and let you think or just feel something.
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You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[Dav]

That is a nice review. Im not really a yo la tengo expert but i like them a lot. I saw them perform once and it was really cool, especially Ira going bestial when playing solos. All their lp got songs i really love but some that i can t stand, just like when they make their silly dancing on stage, just doe snt make it for me.
Upside down was the song i discovered them with and still is one of my favorite.
Never heard of the feelies, what lp would you suggest?
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