They played most of the eternal, if not all of it.
But also tom violence, catholic block, stereo sanctity, the sprawl, cross the breeze, and a few others
Then they ended on Death Valley 69.
Tom Violence was fucking amazing

Great show, wish I was going to London tonight now as well.

They fucked up a couple of times during the set though, 'Catholic Block' took three attempts to get right and Thurston missed some lines from one of the songs from Eternal. But still overall a good set. Over an hour and a half on stage which is the longest that I've seen them play as well.

Good support from The Pop Group as well - went down well.

great gig!

Oh god i cant wait for tonight! There's a rumour they are opening with Teenage Riot to bring in the new year... Here's hoping!

"hello 2011!" on skip tracer.

How about Washing Machine from start to finish? oh my i'd be in heaven. especially when Kim Deal comes out!

What was the merch like last night? can anyone fill me in? Any nice posters?

I would do anything to go back in time to see their washing machine tour gigs. No queens blues live ? Yes please!

I believe the setlist from Manchester will be pretty much the same in London.

There were a couple of t-shirt designs behind the offical stall. Don't remember seeing any posters. The usual 'Goo' & 'Washing Machine' t's were being sold outside after the show by the hawkers.

Anyone have a spare ticket for tonight's show? We have one but desperately need another! Would be Eternal-y (geddit??!) grateful if you could call Spud 07717 803802

2nd biggest club in london!

A higher power tells me they are going to play The Diamond Sea for half an hour as a special encore for new year.
That higher power is wishful thinking.

Might pick up a tshhirt. I love those screen printed posters in the merch section. Would be nice if they had one for tonight. Even a standard Strange Days one.

OMG i'm getting pumped... Been waiting 15 years for this. :)

nahh. i don think they will play diamond sea , but who knows..

I do realise Diamond sea was never gonna happen past 96. That's the only problem with SY. Too much material. Never gonna hear everything you want to live. Especially as they always seem to stick to their latest record. That's pretty good too in my eyes.

anyway Happy New Year everybody here. I'm arranging my own private party. I'll be playing Diamond Sea at midnight

What did they say yesterday in London, about an event tonight in Domino's Square, or similar? My listening English is not great....

no recordings of either surfaced yet??????

Happy new year!
My last night was incredible. The sound was a bit washy i thought but i had a grin on my face the whole night. Excellent set. Kool Thing was very unexpected.

I would be interested in a recording too if anyone managed it.

Come back soon SY. I'll never miss another show...

Thanks for the info.

This was the 5th time I've seen Sonic Youth (1st was the Washing Machine tour) and this was by far the best. Kim on guitar (or 2nd bass) has improved the live sound and adds brilliantly to the cacophony of noise. They also looked to be really up for it and having fun.

Thurston: 'Lee is going to sing a song about Steve Albini's panties.'

Lee: 'That's a very dark place.'

[Before going into 'What We Know'.]

Sounds like you all had a great time there.

we did.

Looks like a great night..

i just got back from London, it was my fifth time seeing Sonic Youth and one of the best too. i loved hearing Brother James to start and Kool Thing to end it all. Shellac were really good aswell and i got to go their midday show on Saturday too. best new years ever!

FANTASTIC STUFF!

I think these were my seventh and eighth times seeing the Youth.

It was a bit Eternal-heavy, and I'm getting a little tired of hearing those songs live now; but then that's because I've seen them so many times since that album was released.

Manchester was probably the better show of the two, but London was the more 'special' and unique.

I really appreciated all the noisy old stuff they played in Manchester: Catholic Block; White Cross; Stereo Sanctity; Tom Violence; DV '69.

The song Thurston dedicated to Ari Up was Antenna -- I really appreciated that, since I'm a massive Slits fan. The live version of Antenna is so much better than the album version: it's really evolved well.

Did anyone else feel a little choked-up when the New Year started with the confetti falling and bursting into a brutal Brother James? I cannot think of a better way to kickstart a brand new year than that!

Kim Gordon saying "Thanks to Steve Albini.. for being such an asshole" was hilarious. You knew they wouldn't let him get away with those comments a few months back! She also said something immediately afterwards, something like "it's always good to...." -- take the higher moral ground, or something? I couldn't make out what she said.

London was also the first time I ever had the chance to see/hear Schizophrenia live, which was a complete treat. Closing with the rare Kool Thing was a perfect choice; it's such a fun song, and perfect for that celebratory setting.

And Daydream Nation songs are ALWAYS welcome: 'Cross the Breeze, Hey Joni, The Sprawl. Teen Age Riot and Silver Rocket are always sorely missed, though. But their discography is so rich that you can never get everything you want!

The Pop Group were excellent both nights, and Shellac was so wild and chaotic that they almost stole the show in London. No Dog and Pony Show or Prayer to God from the latter, though, but they did do an instrumental new song, and the always-killer The End of Radio. A Minute and Squirrel Song were great as well.

Totally agree... I was thinking about it earlier today and almost welled up. I will never forget it. the vibe was amazing.

thanks Moshe!

Fuck me, this is a brilliant site! I've wanted a recording of Branca's Guitar Swarm for.... well, ever since it happened.

Went to both dates, and both dates completely blew my head off. Enjoyed London a lot more though since I got to ring in the new year with my favourite band, I was also seated so had a perfect view of everything whereas I was standing in Manchester and felt a little out the way, also the sound at the Hammersmith was miles better and I felt they played a lot better as well even though the set was considerably shorter than the previous night. Kool Thing was mindblowing, Kim's dancing was incredible <3 also, I may have misheard but during Kool Thing, did Kim make a dig at people wearing their shirts from Topshop/H&M without knowing who they were? Did anyone else catch that or am I just a dick?

Anyway yeah, completely made up about seeing them now, I've waited ages for it and they exceeded expectations to say the least, I know they were gonna be amazing but. Loved the setlist as well, I really like The Eternal so wasn't fussed that it was slightly dominant throughout the set. Over the two nights I heard Catholic Block, Tom Violence, Schizophrenia, 'Cross The Breeze, Hey Joni, Death Valley '69, White Kross, The Sprawl, Kool Thing and Brother James though, so the older stuff was well and truly there.

Also, in relation to what someone posted before about choking up when they first came on, YES a thousand times. It was so wonderful seeing them burst onto the stage, Thurston with a bottle of champagne and going into the countdown, then the confetti and Brother James made me well up, couldn't believe I was actually there.

Thanks you fascist Zionist pig! Already in contact with the taper to get raw wav dumps of most of his interesting stuff.

Oh (1x), and best wishes for 2011 everyone!

Oh oh (2x): happy birthday Moshe!

@Moshe: thanks!
@rappard: i was just about, so you'll take care of sharing with us raw files? sorted. cheers.

http://flowersandcream.blogspot.com/...mmersmith.html

Thanks for the Bootleg.

I thought it was a great show. I really enjoyed it. Hey Joni and Schizophrenia were both fantastic.