Monday, November 26, 2007
show review: Yo La Tengo at the MFA, 11-16-07 (early show)
This show was weeks ago, or at least one week and half of another, and I've been meaning to write about it ever since. It's had to wait, though, for various reasons, not all of which involve Super Mario, but, frankly, a greater number than I'm comfortable admitting. But here's some time, and if I can scrounge up the effort perhaps we can all make it through this.
So Yo La Tengo played a show, and it was amazing. The show was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a musical venue as fine as the art contained therein, and it was actually the first of two shows on the same night, both of which were a part of the since-completed Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour. Instead of a standard rock show, the Freewheeling tour featured the band in more intimate settings, performing in an acoustic fashion, with no set list, and copious amounts of discussion and conversation with their loyal fans. It was as interactive as the utterly horrible Kevin Seal film I'm Your Man, and since anybody who's been to a YLT show realizes that Ira's banter is at least as entertaining as his epileptically spasmodic guitar stylings, a fantastic evening was practically guaranteed.
The open-ended nature of the show lead to a rather peculiar set-list, one relatively short on YLT's singles. No "Sugarcube", no "Tom Courtney", no "Autumn Sweater", but a higher covers ratio than usual, and a nice combination of deep cuts and true classics. Musical highlights included "Decora", a jaunty duet on "Big Day Coming" with Georgia's vocals predominating, the always sturdy "Stockholm Syndrome", and a beautiful "Pablo and Andrea" that was even more shimmering and delicate than usual. As great as the music was, though, it was really the presentation and atmosphere that defined this show. Without the banter, the show was pleasant and occasionally beautiful, but the band's witty and charming interaction with the audience elevated this night to something truly special and memorable. Granted I haven't seen nearly as many shows this year as I would've liked, but this is definitely in the running for my favorite concert of the year.
Oh yeah, the wife went with me, and absolutely loved it. She previously didn't care much for Yo La Tengo, but now has added all their albums to her iPod, and over the last week has listened almost exclusively to a best-of playlist I made for her. So now here's another band we agree on, bringing that total up to a nice round four.
Finally, you can go and download this entire show over at Bradley's Almanac. Here's the direct link. I also stole the photo above from his site. Thanks, Brad! Oh yeah, and while you're there you can also download the complete Acoustic Mainlines show that Spiritualized played at the MFA a few days later, along with a ton of other great music. Bradley's Almanac is basically the best site ever, if you didn't know.
This show was weeks ago, or at least one week and half of another, and I've been meaning to write about it ever since. It's had to wait, though, for various reasons, not all of which involve Super Mario, but, frankly, a greater number than I'm comfortable admitting. But here's some time, and if I can scrounge up the effort perhaps we can all make it through this.
So Yo La Tengo played a show, and it was amazing. The show was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a musical venue as fine as the art contained therein, and it was actually the first of two shows on the same night, both of which were a part of the since-completed Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour. Instead of a standard rock show, the Freewheeling tour featured the band in more intimate settings, performing in an acoustic fashion, with no set list, and copious amounts of discussion and conversation with their loyal fans. It was as interactive as the utterly horrible Kevin Seal film I'm Your Man, and since anybody who's been to a YLT show realizes that Ira's banter is at least as entertaining as his epileptically spasmodic guitar stylings, a fantastic evening was practically guaranteed.
The open-ended nature of the show lead to a rather peculiar set-list, one relatively short on YLT's singles. No "Sugarcube", no "Tom Courtney", no "Autumn Sweater", but a higher covers ratio than usual, and a nice combination of deep cuts and true classics. Musical highlights included "Decora", a jaunty duet on "Big Day Coming" with Georgia's vocals predominating, the always sturdy "Stockholm Syndrome", and a beautiful "Pablo and Andrea" that was even more shimmering and delicate than usual. As great as the music was, though, it was really the presentation and atmosphere that defined this show. Without the banter, the show was pleasant and occasionally beautiful, but the band's witty and charming interaction with the audience elevated this night to something truly special and memorable. Granted I haven't seen nearly as many shows this year as I would've liked, but this is definitely in the running for my favorite concert of the year.
Oh yeah, the wife went with me, and absolutely loved it. She previously didn't care much for Yo La Tengo, but now has added all their albums to her iPod, and over the last week has listened almost exclusively to a best-of playlist I made for her. So now here's another band we agree on, bringing that total up to a nice round four.
Finally, you can go and download this entire show over at Bradley's Almanac. Here's the direct link. I also stole the photo above from his site. Thanks, Brad! Oh yeah, and while you're there you can also download the complete Acoustic Mainlines show that Spiritualized played at the MFA a few days later, along with a ton of other great music. Bradley's Almanac is basically the best site ever, if you didn't know.
