all tweets: Andy Hess
all photos: Liz Shen
As a long time Yo La Tengo fan, it's strange to me that I've never seen them live. The 10-minutes I saw them at Austin City Limits '07 didn't really count. I didn't know what to expect and I've only heard great things. I was talking to one of my roommates from college about Yo La Tengo. I had commented on Ira Kaplan's pedal board and his response was interesting. "I'm of the belief that Ira Kaplan is the greatest guitar player I've ever seen. Get excited."
Like the wise music sage Eric is, he was right. Ira Kaplan is the greatest guitar player I've ever seen. I've never seen anyone do those kind of things with a guitar. It was a very violent experience to say the least. I'm still kind of overwhelmed with how great the show was, so I'm chalking this review up to my stream of conscious remarks from my Twitter feed. The times listed are probably a little off and the tweets have been corrected for grammatical errors.
8:03 p.m.
Endless Boogie: Four 50-somethings rocking the fuck out. I can get behind this.
8:22 p.m.
Your metal loving dad/uncle would love Endless Boogie.
8:45 p.m.
I feel like I've been transplanted into Rock Band.
8:50 p.m.
Holy guitar solos Batman! I think we've hit the 10-minute mark on this particular song.
8:59 p.m.
My ears have been hit in the face with a Buick filled with black t-shirts and leather.
Endless Boogie exits. Crew begins to set up Yo La Tengo's gear.
9:05 p.m.
Ira Kaplan's (of Yo La Tengo) pedal board is rivaling Omar of The Mars Volta's pretty hard right now.
9:10 p.m.
Dude reading the newspaper in the front row of this show, you're my new best friend.
9:12 p.m.
This button banner makes me want to sew.
9:19 p.m.
I'm surrounded by so many Yo La Tengo fan boys and girls.
9:20 p.m.
"Oh my God, Ira!" "Oh my God, Yo La Tengo!" Ugh.
9:22 p.m.
Yo La Tengo's setlist looks extremely long. This should be entertaining.
9:25 p.m.
NPR is here. I'm considering going to schmooze with them.
Yo La Tengo enters. Crowd freaks. Band plays.
9:27 p.m.
The sound mix is a little rough tonight. Hopefully, this will straighten out. (Update: It did.)
10:20 p.m. -- Yo La Tengo is playing "Pass The Hatchet"
No Age was loud live, but they don't have shit on Yo La Tengo.
10:35 p.m.
To do: Invest in some ear plugs.
10:40 p.m.
The really, really annoying kids next to me are now dancing on stage to "One PM Again". Would it be rude to throw my beer?
10:43 p.m.
"Sugarcube" kicks off and the place explodes. This doesn't surprise me.
10:50 p.m.
A second encore? I'll take it.
10:55 p.m.
This is the first concert in a long time that I've seen the band play more than one request.
10:57 p.m.
"Detouring America With Horns" and a Beach Boys cover (the third cover and final song of the night) are the way to end an almost perfect concert.
Hooray, photos!!!
Previously in Live DC:
- 5/24: LiveDC: The Adicts @ RNR Hotel
- 5/24: LiveDC: The Donkeys @ Black Cat
- 5/23: LiveDC: The Barr Brothers w/ Kishi Bashi @ The Hamilton
- 5/23: LiveDC: Damien Jurado @ Black Cat
- 5/23: Report: Soundbites 2012
- 5/22: LiveDC: Spirit Animal @ Red Palace
- 5/22: LiveDC: Astra Via @ Black Cat
- 5/22: LiveDC: Father John Misty @ Rock & Roll Hotel
- 5/22: LiveDC: Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams @ Merriweather
- 5/22: Photos: Summer Camp takes the "Ladies of Town" Drag Show
God loves a cheerful giver.
During this show I got updates seconds apart from David Malitz (winner by a hair) and Marc Masters that Yo La Tengo were covering Half Japanese. I don't want to say this show was thick with music nerds but... haha!
David Malitz IS a nerd!!
those 2 girls who got on stage were jackasses... i was glad to hear every other yo la tengo fan groan when they tried to make the show about them.
for the record, i was updating facebook (ok, and twitter) and NOT texting foster directly. just want to clear that up. i will not dispute dakota's statement, but i am fairly certain i could beat the ass of the majority of the dweebs in attendance at the show, which i am rarely able to say.