Sorry this turned out so long. Read the first 2 and last 2 paragraphs if you only want to read about sonic youth. The rest are other bands I saw with them.
I've had the pleasure of seeing Sonic Youth twice. First time was 8/11/04 in DC at the 9:30 Club on the Sonic Nurse tour. The opening bands were putrid. Yes, I said putrid. One band called Magic Markers I think. It was 30 minutes of white noise, that's all I remember about them. Then came a band called White Magic (notice a theme?). Again, pretty bad. Just completely forgettable, indie pop type band, I don't even know what it was. I do know I would've gladly welcomed fingernails scraped across a chalkboard than listen to the girl singer.
So I'm nervous as hell. I get nervous a lot for some reason when I'm seeing bands I love for the first time. Finally the band walks out and go right into Pattern Recognition and the rest was a night I won't forget. The band was so spot on. Thurston and Lee were just going out of their minds doing god knows what with their guitars. Kim was doing her thing, dancing around on stage. I can't quite remember everything they played but there are some setlists on this thread from the Sonic Nurse tour that look about right to me, give or take a few songs that were changed. PCH, Eric's Trip, Schizophrenia, Teenage Riot, Disconnection Notice, Empty Page and a bunch of others were all excellent. Just an incredible set and the band lived up to all my expectations and more.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Kegmama
Alex's Trip- There were quite a few of us from the board at that show... Arthurfest was 2 days later. Did you see them then too?! The San Diego HOB show was actually kind of weak in comparison to their perfromance at Arthurfest, but both nights were fucking excellent! SY is like the best live band ever.
|
Hey, I was at Arthurfest too. The band was awesome but the sound was the worst I'd heard in a long time. Here's my review.
2nd time I saw them was at Arthurfest last August. It took place at Barnyard park which was this huge arts and music park. Very nice, with a breeze and picturesque setting overlooking the city. When I walked in, I was a little surprised because security didn't even ask for my ticket so I walked right in. I missed a lot of the festival already so I decided to head straight for the main stage to get a good spot where Sonic Youth was headlining and the excellent Sleater Kinney was right before them.
I got there just as this band called Sunburned Hand of the Man was beginning. About 9-10 scruffy, middle aged gentleman walked on stage with everything from a trumpet to synthesizer to tambourines in addition to the guitar-bass-drums setup. The next 45 minutes was basically a random clusterfuck of noises. I wanted to take a drill and off myself at times. Sure I appreciate pushing the musical envelope but this was a little too much. things got interesting when the props came out. some guy comes out of nowhere and takes this wooden staff and raises it over his head in some sort of proclamation. Then he goes down to the 1 st row of the crowd and randomly shoves the mic into everyone's faces at which on cue, people take turns screaming. He then does a handstand on stage. Got it? Ok, gets more interesting. He takes out a naked baby doll and starts caressing and holding it and petting it. Another 30 minutes of this bizarre behavior and at the end I'm clapping and shouting for an encore. Crazy...
The set change before the Black Keys came on was uh, interesting. It was basically a handful of stupid indie kids/snobs arguing like jackholes over who was standing where and why tall people were standing in the front and blah blah blah endless bullshit jabbering.
The Black Keys were up. Forget the White Stripes, these guys are the real deal. They play a tight brand of bluesy rock n roll. And rock they did. The guitarist was all over the stage, dishing out some awesome guitar riffs. The drummer reminded me of Dave Grohl the way he was punishing his drumset. They played a solid 45 minute set and got a great reaction from the crowd. Nicely done.
Well the next set change for Sleater Kinney only took about 20 minutes but we ended up waiting for 45 long minutes for whatever reason. It was very packed now and people were pushing their way through and grabbing spots left and right.
So the band finally walks out, starting with the fox off their awesome new record the Woods. Playing close an hour, they played mostly new material with a few oldies thrown in. I thought they had best set of the day. The band was rocking out hard, playing very loud and very big. No surprise they got a big reaction from the crowd. Janet was bashing the drums big time, Corin was jumping around doing kicks and ripping off solos while Carrie carried most of the vocals. I was very impressed with the band as this was my first time seeing them. Unfortunately for us, Sleater Kinney and Sonic Youth who were to follow, the sound guys decided to take the rest of the night off. The first few songs, you couldn't really hear Carrie unless you were in the first few rows. The bass was also much too loud. You could tell the band was getting pissed off now. But they played on and ended up playing a fantastic set anyways.
The next set change took even longer, over an hour because they were showing a short film. On top of the fact that everybody was waiting very impatiently for sonic youth, the film was horrible. I don't even know how to describe it other than it was like watching the video in "the Ring" with these random trippy, freaky, bizarre images with muffled narration. I thought some girl was going to come out of the screen and start eating the audience, speaking of which if that film had gone on another few minutes, I was going to start killing random audience members. Yes sir.
The film ends after constant moans and groans from the audience and finally, after a 1 hour wait the band is ready to come out. Sonic youth comes out to thunderous applause. So after that long setup what happens? You couldn't hear vocals. Again. The bass was too loud. Again. The crowd was complaing and ready to kill the sound guys. Again. Not discounting the bands performance because it was once again energetic and awe inspiring but this was hands down the worst sound I'd heard by any band in the last few years and that sentiment was shared throughout the crowd. There were lots of starts and stops and kim especially looked frustrated as she at one point couldn't play the bass anymore and traded off with Jim. I was getting pissed because the band looked on tonight. The energy and the spark was still there. Thurston seemed the most unfazed and seemed to be urging the band to play on. He was definitely in a playful mood that night, pouring a bottle of water over himself and then attacking one of the roadies and horsing around while still playing his guitar! Lee also jumped into the crowd and let people mess around with his guitar. Awesome guy. I was surprised at how aggressive the LA crowd was, not that I'm particularly averse to that. The DC crowd for my 1st sonic youth show weren't having any dancing or movement at all but here a small mosh pit opened up during Teenage Riot and some others. Funniest moment I’ll remember about this show. This sweaty, fat guy near the front center started doing these strange, writhing motions with his hand, I don't know if he was in a seizure or what. Then as Thurston was finishing playing, he'd then start pointing at Thurston and start vigorously nodding his head in this insane measure of approval. Funniest thing I'd seen in a long time. They played pretty much the same set from the sonic nurse tour with highlights being Mote, Schizoprenia, pacific coast highway, teenage riot, empty page, stones, and pattern recognition.
I can’t honestly say this was the best show I’d ever seen because of the sound problems and I’m probably skipping the next Arthurfest unless they pull out a killer lineup. But regardless, it was a good show overall. Black Keys and Sleater Kinney for the first time were a real treat, that Sunburned band with the baby doll caressing was insane, and Sonic Youth, despite the sound problems, still turning in one hell of a performance.