Berkeley Community Theater reviews
 

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/...h_proves_a.php


LastNight: Sonic Youth Proves Ageless at the Berkeley Community Theater

Fri Jul 20, 2007 at 07:21:08 AM

 

“…After Gordon jumped into the crowd to dance out the end of "Eliminator Jr.," Moore greeted her with a huge, aw-shucks smile, as if after all these years she could still surprise him. …”

By Dan Strachota
Sonic Youth
July 19, 2007
The Berkeley Community Theater
Better Than: All the Smashing Pumpkins shows put together.
Download: Sonic Youth doing "Total Trash" in Barcelona, 2007; live footage of "Silver Rocket"; video of "Do You Believe in Rapture?"
You know how going home to see your parents makes you feel 16 again, no matter how old you are? Suddenly, you feel all your hard-earned independence slipping away, as they exert their control all over again. Eventually, you end up screaming insanely about how they can't tell you what to do anymore when they ask some simple question, like "Are you done with that salt shaker?"
Which is why I felt conflicted when my dad called me up and asked if I wanted not only to go see Sonic Youth play their 1988 opus, Daydream Nation, but hang out with them backstage in Berkeley. See, my dad teaches at an alternative school in Western Massachusetts. This year, he just happens to be molding the mind of one Coco, daughter to Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. My father, who hasn't combed his hair since the Reagan administration, who keeps his TV tucked away in the closet for those rare occasions when he rents a VHS tape, and who lives in a cabin in town so tiny it's barely on the map, is something of a hero to the coolest parents since John and Yoko. It's all rather bizarre.
I admit I hadn't paid much attention to Sonic Youth's last couple discs. But boy did I play the hell out of Daydream Nation and Goo when they came out, crushing majorly on the chaotic pop pleasures of tracks like "Hey Joni" and "Kissability." Naturally, I wondered how this reunion (band gets together with old album) would work, so I took my dad up on his offer.
Boy, I'm glad I did. Otherwise I wouldn't have had such cool '90s flashbacks. I'd forgotten just how metallic bands like Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Jane's Addiction were at one time, carving out a new territory where heavy metal met indie rock. Sure, SY could toss out a gem like "Total Trash," with a riff that would serve Pavement and million other congenial college rock bands well, but they could also head-bang with the best of them. "Erik's Trip" and "Cross the Breeze" were aural thrashfests, dump truck pouring noise down on my head.
Gordon said later that when the band went back to the album to listen to their parts, they thought they were sloppy and too sprawling, but obviously they had reworked them considerably. The pop tunes I gravitated towards in the past sounded razor sharp, but it was the more expansive numbers that really shone, tracks like "Candle" and "Rain King" that bristled with new energy. Or maybe it was how the musicians didn't give some rote performance, like the Pixies reunion. They seemed genuinely interested in the songs and each other. After Gordon jumped into the crowd to dance out the end of "Eliminator Jr.," Moore greeted her with a huge, aw-shucks smile, as if after all these years she could still surprise him.
The same goes for the band's encore, which sadly didn't consist of the complete Sticky Fingers, as Thurston joked, but several numbers from SY's recent Rather Ripped LP. Still, the way the performers played vibrant, concise tunes like "Incinerate" and "Jams Run Free," I could see the quartet carrying on for another decade or two. Sonic Youth? More like the Fountain of Youth. Maybe it's something in that Western Mass water.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: Um, you know, that stuff about my dad.
Random Detail: Pavement's Mark Ibold, who was in Free Kitten with Gordon, played bass on the encore set.
By the way: The idea for playing Daydream Nation was conceived by All Tomorrow's Parties founder, for his Don't Look Back.

http://www.wombatnation.com/2007/07/...on-in-berkeley

Tonight I was lucky enough to see Sonic Youth perform their 1988 double LP masterpiece Daydream Nation at Berkeley Community Theater. I’ve been a huge fan of Sonic Youth ever since Bad Moon Rising was released in 1985. My favorite Sonic Youth album is Sister, but Daydream Nation is a very close second.
I’m often disappointed by live shows by rock bands, as performances are often rote copies of the studio versions, filled with distracting visuals totally unrelated to the music, or confirmations that a band has minimal talent and is totally dependent on studio engineers. With Sonic Youth, though, the live performances are a fantastic complement to the released recordings. Fortunately, the sound quality in the theater tonight was also very good, instead of the stupid over-amped distortion foisted on the crowd by half deaf audio engineers at many shows. Sonic Youth are absolute masters at controlling feedback and twisting it into amazing sounds.
Afer performing Daydream Nation beginning to end, the band left the stage and then came back for a five song encore, which they then followed with a double encore with an additional song. When they came out for the first encore, Thurston made a couple of funny education-related comments, since the theater is part of a high school (though this theater was a thousand times better than the one at the high school I went to). After a humorous dig at our dim-witted President, Thurston announced that they were now going to play all of Sticky Fingers. He then said something like, “Be sure to watch Lee [Ranaldo]. He’s going to do the Mick Jagger chicken dance.”
Thurston, Lee and Kim all seemed to be having a great time on stage. Since they brought up a friend to also play bass during the encores, Kim was freed up to just sing on a couple of the songs while dancing around on stage in her super cool shiny black and silver dress. She even jumped down into the crowd in the orchestra pit and danced around during the last bit of the final song.

http://www.motherjones.com/riff_blog...infograph.html


Review/Infographic: Sonic Youth, Berkeley, 7/19/07

New York combo Sonic Youth are a third of the way through their Daydream Nation tour, where they're performing the legendary 1988 album in its entirety. For simplicity's sake, here's an infographic describing my experience at the show. Enjoy.

pics:

http://precog.vox.com/library/post/s...l?_c=feed-atom

http://www.kulturblog.com/2007/07/re...-nation-61907/

Sonic Youth came to Berkeley High School last night and played their 1989 release, Daydream Nation, in its entirety as part of the “Don’t Look Back” series.
I’m not sure if I like the conceit of “Don’t Look Back.” Albums are not intended to be played straight through in a live setting. And one of the great things about live music is the fact that the artists can put together a setlist that draws on a variety of material, and vary it from night to night.
But there is something very satisfying about a band showing up and launching a show with the very song that was your introduction to their music. When Kim Gordon’s “Spirit desire/We will fall” incantation faded into the lodestar melody of “Teen Age Riot,” the venue just exploded with energy. Unlike a lot of their cohorts from the 1980s, the years have been very kind to SY. Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo sounded amazing, both with their guitars and their vocals, and Steve Shelley’s drumming held everything together.
The highlights of the show for me, though, were Gordon’s songs: “The Sprawl,” “‘Cross the Breeze,” and “Kissability.” She was like Nico and Patti Smith rolled into one — as contradictory as that sounds –- and she danced wonderfully.
They’re taking the show to LA tonight, then Brooklyn next week, then off to Europe. Catch them if you’re able.
Setlist:
Teen Age Riot
Silver Rocket
The Sprawl
‘Cross the Breeze
Eric’s Trip
Total Trash
Hey Joni
Providence
Candle
Rain King
Kissability
Trilogy:
a) “The Wonder
b) “Hyperstation
z) “Eliminator Jr.
**
Incinerate
Reena
Do You Believe In Rapture?
Jams Run Free
Pink Steam
**
What A Waste

I coulda swore... there was one more track after What A Waste...unknown to me...new or b-side or unreleased?

unless you're referring to 'motion pictures' by neil young, which played over the PA while the room cleared out, no, there was no song after 'what a waste'.

Berkeley Poster Image???
 

Hey, I caught the show and it blew me away. My front and center balcony seat made for an amazing sonic soundscape. That show would make a great live album...

I'm looking for a concert poster (or digital image thereof) for the Berkeley show to add to my collection.

Does anyone know where I might find a poster for the July 19th Daydream Nation show in Berkeley ???

I could really use some help...my online searches have been unsuccessful

cordially, Bartlett Moore ( bartlettdmoore >@< gmail >.< com )

All's I know is I got to dance with Kim for a moment or two there. It was surreal really.

crazy...my ears must have been unhinged from all the excitement.