Melbourne 24.07.06
 

Just got back from this sonic youth gig. anybody went too? how did you guys find it? and what did you think of the hi-god people? awesome art? or utter trash?

I was there last night. It was my first time seeing them and I really enjoyed it, would have liked a few more old songs in amongst the setlist but the new songs sound so much better live so that was cool. I enjoyed Hi God People, I don't know whether they're awesome art but they had an interesting show and were fun to watch.

yea i was there. do you have a setlist?
im pretty sure they played every single song off RR. I would have loved some more of the older stuff. oh well

Well I can only remember the order for about half the set but the songs they played were all the songs off RR as well as Eric's Trip, Pattern Recognition, Shaking Hell, Catholic Block and Expressway To Yr Skull. Expressway was fantastic and I'm really glad they came out for a second encore and played it.

The venue sucked and I'm not a huge fan of RR, so it was probably my least favourite SY show. Was still pretty damn good though. Expressway!

Hi-God People were fun. Also, Spike Jonze & Johnny Knoxville intro'd the band... random!

I saw sonic youth ROCK Melbourne last night!!! It was my 5th time seeing them live...and it was by far the best ever. Meeting Lee and gettitng his mutilated red jim dunlop NYLON .73mm pick at the end was my wishfulfilmet.

lots of photos posted here:
http://soniclove.spaces.msn.com/

the Hi God People were interesting to say the least. However, the music wasnt too bad. Dark gothic post rock stoner doom. (Why didnt security stop those demonstrators making it on stage at the start? :p I think a bucket or two of methamphetamine went into the making of the whole experience, each. Did u notice thurston filming it? He seemed to like it.

soniclove :cool:

One of their better gigs I've seen.

Pattern recognition was awesome & it was the sort of set list I'd expected.

Thanks for the pics.

one of their worst gigs I have seen. They played well and Stil, Eric's Trip, Catholic Block, Shaking Hell and Pattern Recognition were awesome. The Palace is the shittest venue I have been in in Australia. Their was no vocal clarity in the mix which I was disappointed about, more so for newer fans, however I still had a great time.

Edit: And are Melbourne crowds all on downers or something???

Edit2: Oh and I forgot, Steve Shelley is getting more intense as he gets older, he ripped shit up at the gig.

yes I agree the venue was innapropriate, and the mixing was way off...Lee's amp was too high and his vocals way too low, but from where I was standing they still pulled it off. Steve did go off!! The guy rubbing up onto me and screaming out "zoule!" from some 80s rippoff didnt appear to be on downers!!

Just saw sonic youth on Rove too...woah!! hard for me to take that shit in....channel 10? WHat was that card in Thurston's guitar neck?

Where abouts were you Terminal Pharmacy? I didn't mind the venue itself but I was just behind the barricade and had no problem seeing. I can imagine it would not have been a great view for anyone towards the back. They really needed to have the mosh pit sloping or something.

Also I have to agree with you about Steve's drumming, it never stood out to me on their records but it blew me away at the gig. He really made songs such as Or and Sleeping Around a lot more interesting.

started off on a good note didn't it? spike jonze and johnny knoxville intro the band! hi-god people were...well interesting. didn't think much of the costume and performance art part, but the music had some good bits, particularly straight after the keyboard part and in the middle section...it was fun hearing people go "what the fuck?" and others cheering away. think they really polarised the audience.

Sonic Youth put on a reasonably good show by general standards. but its my least favourite show out of the 3 times I saw them (past 2 were '96 washing machine, '04 nurse). Those 2 other shows were mind-blowing but this one didn't quite do it for me! guess the reasons are that;
1) the mix was bad (also the first gig i went to where I didn't come out with buzzing in my ears, and I wasn't wearing ear-plugs!)
2) songs in RR really don't have parts that would kick ass live! its the old stuff they played that had it! (eg. expressway, I went nuts when they played that!) but that's not saying RR sucks though.
3) one very impt man is missing: Jim O'rourke!

'til the next one... and hopefully they'll play forum instead

what, they played stil? huh?

I was centre about 10 feet from barricade.

yes they played stil from syr2, the instrumental they played in the middle with the snare girl riff slowed down

STIL!!!
AWESOME!
I love the version they did on Sessions @ West 54th...

That's pretty great.....the Stil part.

the hi god people are pretty random, i have their second album which is quite like the syr stuff, but what they did at the show was alot different, i'm figuring the are more of a performance art group

as far as SY's mix goes, here are my thoughts:

I thought the choice of an M88 for Kims vocals wasn't so great, they are less sensitive than an sm58 and more responsive on male voices - traditionally a kick drum mic, and if you look at soniclove's photos there is the same mic on steve's kick.

The beta57a on Thurston's vocal was a good idea but needed eq'ing a bit better, 8khz was cutting through too much on the sibilant sounds for my liking.

There was generally to much sub in the mix which really made it muddy and decreased the amount of clarity.

I didn't like how Steve's kit sounded it was complete mud most of the time and I found it really hard to hear any of the space which he leaves between notes. The 414's for overheads could have been closer to help this.

Apart from that the engineer did a great job because that is one sucky sounding room in the palace. Gig should have been at the forum.

i really enjoyed it! Something weird was going on with Lee, his amp and such, but I was just so grateful to see them (seeing as i'm underage and who knows how long SY will keep touring/making albums) I was at the front too, right in front of Thurston and I touched Lee at the end!!! Yay.
I actually have a greater appreciation for RR now that i've seen it performed live. Expressway was amazing.... and... i love sonic youth even more than ever before (if that was even possible).

setlist?

from the top of my head five days later (not in any order)

incinerate
reena
pattern recognition
catholic block
expressway to your skull
stil
shaking hell
eric's trip
rats
do you believe in rapture
sleepin' around
jams run free

i have forgotten a few