Yo La Tengo 2/2/13

 "The consummate do it yourself band," "The essential indie rock band,"  "The modern day Velvet Underground," "The quintessential critics' band..." these are common monikers for the Hoboken, NJ trio, Yo La Tengo.  This band, whose career has spanned nearly three decades, stopped at the Turner Hall Ballroom on Saturday February 2nd for "An Evening with Yo La Tengo."  The band performed two sets  without an  opener.  Two set shows from non jam bands are a rare commodity in the concert world, and I was excited to take in a robust amount of music from a band who I've always been interested in, but had never truly peaked my interest (until recently).  What I discovered was an act whose humility and musical poise set them apart as masters of their craft.

The first set featured nine songs, all acoustic, performed with stripped-down instruments and the band seated on stools.  The near-capacity crowd, comprised mostly men in their forties dressed in plaid shirts or leather jackets, and wearing plastic-rimmed glasses (granted, I, too have plastic rimmed specs and was wearing a plaid shirt) was so quiet and respectful during the acoustic set, that you could only hear the faint popping of tall boy cans from the bar at the opposite end of the ballroom.  The band opened with "Ohm," the first track off of their latest release Fade (and, incidentally, the track that got me to really take notice of this band).  From there, other high points of the acoustic set were another number from Fade, "Corneia and Jane," as well as an intimate version of "Big Day Coming" off of their Painful LP released in 1993.  I was surprised how much the band traded off with vocal duties.  In addition, the trio harmonized extremely well together putting an intimate coffee house feel on many tunes that are used to being played with longer jams and distortion.

After a short intermission, where the acoustic gear was taken off the stage and replaced by electric guitars, synthesizers and a smorgasbord of distortion peddles, the band returned for what fans would likely describe as a more "traditional" Yo La Tengo experience.  Opening up, the band grooved through "Stupid Things" (another strand-out track on Fade).  A mid-set version of their pseudo-hit "Mr. Tough" energized the crowd, and propelled the music into a great three song sequence which included "Before We Run," and an electric version of "Ohm," which jammed out past the eight minute mark.   Perhaps the show highlight for me, however, was the set closer, "Blue Line Swinger," a 10 minute plus opus which featured some crazy guitar feedback jams layered upon Georgia Hubley's pounding drums. 

For an encore, the band took requests from the crowd.  My request of their cover of "Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion" by the Grateful Dead, was greeted with laughter from the band.  (They covered this tune at a record store gig in San Francisco as more or less, a one time thing, or so I was told by frontman Ira Kaplan whom I had the pleasure of chatting with after the show).  They didn't do "Golden Road," but did do an earlier tune (requested by a group of fans) as well as a track that featured Georgia Hubley coming to the front of the stage to do the vocals.

I am embarrassed to some degree that it's taken me this long to really get into Yo La Tengo. This band had  reputation of being stalwart performers live, and they exceeded expectations.  I am now regretting all the times I passed on seeing them play at the Regent Street Annex while I was at UW-Madison from 1996-2001, as I'm discovering that this was a really cool era for the band.  Expect to see me at the Yo La Tengo show again the next time they come through town.

This is a band whose humble nature, sincere song writing, and true joy for what they do comes across in their performance.

Show grade: A
Setlist: 

 

Steve Bloom, Ira Kaplan, me

This t-shirt cracked me up.  It is kind of hard to see, but featured the singer from 1980's hip-hop group Kid 'N Play with the writing: Yo La Tengo: Fade underneath.  While the merch guy was trying to get me to buy it, as I found it quite humorous, a text to my wife put the kibosh on that.  I think Jeni's sense probably played out well on that decision.