Yo La Tengo at MFA (Boston) 11/15/07
(Artwork above by designer Mr. Asami from San-X)
I got in to the Ramis Auditorium last night and gave a couple test shots with the old Point n’ Click and then shut down city. It was all Broken Social Scenes fault. So no mind blowing pictures like I usually do for live shows. But I managed to jaut down some notes during the show so here it goes. My best attempt at a recap of the Freewheelin tour.
Right out of the gun they jammed out their first single off their latest album, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass. I like Beanbag chair but not a huge fan. That’s all I have to say about that. Then came the first onslaught of shout outs from the crowd. Apparently these kids didn’t go to kindergarten as they figured who needs to raise their hand to ask a question when I can just blurt it out. Of course, the first question was about the dismal Mets and if they knew what had happened. Ira came back with a quick remark saying “when we were here back in 87′ we were respectful enough to not stand up on stage and say, ‘hey what happened to the Red Sox’.”
Then someone blurted out, “what are your thoughts about the stock market“. James came back this time with his poignant remark, “it’s a good time to buy low and sell high“. Everyone got a chuckle. In fact, there was a good amount of chuckling because James is one funny motherf’er.
There was a question asked about their up and coming Saturday Night Live gig / not really an official gig. Apparently, since the writers are on strike, the entire cast of SNL is conducting a show at the UCB Theatre in NYC. All the skits were previously written and they asked if YLT would be their musical act. I guess this was suppose to be a secret so when Ira asked the guy, how did you find out about that, he replied “I have my sources”. Ira then replied, “well if you’re not going to tell me then I’m not going to tell you any more about the show.” Man, they were quick on the come backs. Very witty, the trio from Hoboken.
Other quick tidbits, James loves Red Snapper (label mates), playing with Jonathan Richman was an all time high for the band, Adrian Grenier from Entourage is a big YLT fan and finally, they like to drink micro-brews from Western Michigan.
And how was the music you ask? Outstanding. Down to every note and every harmony, Ira, Georgia and James were on point. They may come off as a laid back bunch and probably don’t practice all the time like some grueling rock bands say they do, but it doesn’t matter. When you have the chemistry that they have you don’t need no stinking practice.
One word I put down that I felt best described their sound, caressing. Even when they break in to their distorted jams and feedback mayhem, their sound creates a soothing aura and I was more then willing to take it all in.
Here is my attempt at their the complete set list (with a little help from Brad):
- Beanbag Chair
- From a Motel 6
- Decora*
- Be Thankful for What You’ve Got (William DeVaughn cover)
- You Tore Me Down* (The Flamin Groovies cover)
- Big Day Coming
- Mr. Tough
- Gentle Hour* (Snapper cover)
- One PM Again
- Today is the Day
- No Water (one of their many Phil Milstein tunes)
- Fourth Time Around (Dylan cover from I’m Not There soundtrack)
- Pablo and Andrea
- Deeper into Movies
- Emulsified* (Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers) (Appeared to be a cover song called Multiply but not the Jamie Lidell song. Sounded like Ira was doing a Jerry Lee Lewis impersonation but it wasn’t a Jerry Lee Lewis song. Oh well. It was rocking who ever it was.)
Encore
- Don’t Cry No Tears (Neil Young cover)*
- Detouring America with Horns*
*Songs added by Mr. Bradley Almanac. I left my description of the set closer as I thought they were singing Multiply when really they were singing Emulsified. Ah, these old ears of mine. The fact that I couldn’t get the Neil Young cover is going to get me in hot water with a good friend of mine from Philly. And “You Tore Me Down” I had as the Cats Stevens tune, “Here Comes My Baby“, which is on the same album as the Flamin Groovies cover, the Fakebook album. It was a lyric in the song that threw me off, “Baby don’t run away”. So many baby’s in the lyrics my intuition was to go with the track that had baby in it. Oh well, goes to show you how intuitive I am.
Check out Brad’s flickr pics from the show: http://flickr.com/photos/bsearles/tags/yolatengo/
He’ll have an MP3 recording up of the show some time down the road. The auditorium sounds amazing in person so I can only imagine that his recordings sound just as clear.
If you happen to be going to the final Freewheelin show tonight in Williamsburg, NY, I advise you request your favorite song, they most likely will play it if you yell it out first.
Downloads:
“The Summer” Recorded at KEXP 10/15/06
“I Feel Like Going Home” Recorded at KCMP 10/7/06
New online music gadgets and Yo La Tengo at MFA
Busy week leading up to the Philadelphia Marathon, which my girlfriend is running in. If you’re in the city, stop on by the finish line to cheer on all the winners because when you run 26.2 miles, whether you’re first or dead last, you’re a winner in my book.
There are two online gadgets that I’ve been introduce to in the past couple days.
The first gadget is the new Facebook blog aggregator and music streamer (see image above). If you’re a Facebook user, you should know about this application - http://apps.facebook.com/musicblogs/ (Link is for Facebook users only). If you’re not a Facebook user, this tool could actually be a good reason to become one.
It’s not much different then the Hype Machine or Elbo.ws for that matter, but it lets you drop in your favorite blog in to a music player and stream all the mp3’s that have been posted over the last few months. You can then save your favorite blogs. On your profile it will show your favorites and your friends can pick and choose the blogs they may want to check out on your profile. The concept of sharing and listening to MP3’s posted on blogs is obviously nothing new but the integration in to a social network like Facebook is. And I think it may turn out to be a great way to introduce your friends to the music you love and the blogs you read to find out about new music you hope to one day throw in to that loving mix.
Speaking of mix, that’s what the next gadget is all about.
The second online gadget was sent to me by our San Francisco contact, Tweez. The new tool is from www.boomshuffle.com. The site uses a Microsite format, which makes it easy to navigate. The whole concept is to make your own mix. Yet again not another new concept but just like the Facebook tool, it is a very user friendly interface.
They have a pretty wide selection of artists (R&B, Rap, Rock, Electronica and Country) and they are committed to growing their selection. When you make a mix it has to be at least 15 different songs from 15 different artists. Otherwise, the mix will only give you 30 second clips of each song. It has something to do with the same legalities that radio stations have to follow. They also make it very easy for a person to click on the Money ($) sign and buy the album a track is off of from Amazon.com.
Check out my first mix below:
In the live music scene, Yo La Tengo comes “freewheelin” in to town tonight at the MFA Remis Auditorium. Very excited about this show for a couple reasons; 1.) I’ve never seen a show at the MFA and 2.) I’ve never seen Yo La Tengo!!!
The Freewheelin tour is not a tour to support an album. The now year old I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is solidly stamped in to their consciousness. The reason for this tour is to basically try something new.
Ira Kaplan (lead singer), Georgia Hubley (percussions & vocals) and James McKnew (bass player) all like to explore new ideas. When you’ve been a band for 23 years it’s extremely important that you try on new shoes. There are annual Yo La Tengo staples such as the Hanukkah shows at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ (where they are from) and the annual WFMU pledge drive where they perform cover songs requested by listeners. But every now and then they pull something new out of their hat.
Why is this tour new? In reality, it’s actually not all that new but rather it combines elements of their Hanukkah shows and the WFMU covers gig. During their set, they will play songs from their entire repertoire. They will tell stories in between songs and encourage the audience to participate in the story telling and even to make requests.
I’m pumped because now I’ll finally find out what that beaming light is on the front cover of the album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. My guess is an alien spaceship but who knows, it could be something really random.
Links of Interest:
Download “Little Eyes” (from Summer Sun)
Visit the Yo La Tengo Matador site and download more MP3’s
Purchase Yo La Tengo albums (Amazon) (Matador)
Visit Yo La Tengo on myspace
