J'Accuse Ted Hughes
 

thinking about live stuff, was anyone at the ATP 2000 show where they recorded syr7?

that would have been immense

no.... but SYR7 is amazing. I love love love that entry in the series. Still pissed about the lack of CD release haha.

I was there. Funny gig, my first time seeing them live. The majority of the crowd were not impressed.
We snuck in the back and watched them soundcheck on the afternoon too..

i need to spread some reputation around before giving it to you again, but that truly deserves rep

I watched it broadcast live over t' internet on me shitty dial-up connection. Not too long ago I spoke to a guy who regularly goes to ATP and he had seen Sonic Youth on this occasion, hadn't been impressed at all (though largely wasn't interested in 'noise' as such)

NME review: "Goodbye 20th Century, Goodbye Talent" :D

And then, about two months later, they gave NYC Ghosts and Flowers a glowing 8/10 review.

when considering the crowd/press reaction, it's worth bearing in mind that they had only played a handful of UK shows over the prior 6-7 years (just a few nights in London and the odd festival set - last UK tour proper had been '92), so I daresay I was far from alone in seeing them for the first time, despite being a fan since the Washing Machine-era.
Also, it was the first ATP, which had yet to become the established noise/drone fest of today (frigging Snow Patrol were on the bill ferchrissakes!) so there was maybe some expectation of a more typical crowd-pleasing festival set. Instead we got a seemingly never ending improv drone, followed by a bunch of WIP instrumentals, with the closing Sunday being the only familiar track...
I'd love to hear a boot of the whole thing to compare/contrast with my memories of it - I'd doubtless appreciate it all a lot more these days..

Fucking Snow Patrol?! NFW

Indeed. They hadn't had their 'hit' at that point though, and were just generic indie also-rans, best known for being on the same label as Belle&Seb...

I love this record. Unfortunately I wasn't at that particular show, but honestly I don't really care for seeing Sonic Youth at festivals, where the crowd is just as likely to hate them as they are to love them. I prefer club shows where they headline, as you can guarantee that the crowd is filled with Sonic Youth geeks, like yourself, and not, y'know, Snow Patrol fans who either heckle or hit the beer tent when my favorite band takes the stage to play a noise set.

Grateful that of my numerous live encounters with the band, only three have been festivals. One of which was bumbershoot, where they got the most respectful response.

They were invited by the curators, Mogwai, and this was way before they became bland and generic. Their first two albums and a few tracks on Final Straw are quite interesting, but yes, it does look weird when look at it. But the rest of that ATP lineup is amazing! Two Dollar Guitar! (HELLO!), Godspeed, Bardo, Shellac, Aphex, Plaid, and Stereolab etc.

I remember on the old Mogwai q+a page Stuart having a massive vent over how shit SnowPatrol had become. I think it was Stuart, might have been Barry.

They love to vent, I loved their posts about the Live Earth concerts.