The last time we saw Sonic Youth was in 2008. Thus, we weren’t sure what this show would entail, though honestly we were hoping that it would be like what he heard about last year’s show at Prospect Park Bandshell. Having no new album to support (their last release was 2009’s The Eternal, not counting the SYR series and solo albums as well), they played the old stuff last year, not playing any song that was recorded after 1988’s landmark Daydream Nation. This year, they stretched out a bit more, but still focused on older material. Except for 3 songs from The Eternal (“What We Know,” “Sacred Trickster” and “Calming the Snake”) and the title track from guitarist Thurston Moore‘s first solo album Psychic Hearts from 1995, none of the songs performed were from past 1994’s Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
Opening with Bad Moon Rising‘s “Brave Men Run (in My Family)”, the first five tracks were a flurry of ’80s highlights including “Kill Your Idols” (from the EP of the same name), “Kotton Krown,” “Eric’s Trip” and an incredibly energetic version of “Death Valley ’69” (the second song played). Afterwards, things got a bit more modern as two songs from The Eternal were played. Next it was “Starfield Road” from 1994’s Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star and then it was back to the ’80s for “I Love Her All the Time” and “Tom Violence”, EVOL‘s terrific opening track.
The three encores included “Flower” (one of my favorite Sonic Youth songs), the little-played “Psychic Hearts” and finally, a super-noisy version of “Inhuman” that seemed to clear out much of the audience. Overall, the consistency of the set and the fact that they sounded so good throughout it shows that no matter what the time frame is of the material they’re playing, Sonic Youth can still be thrilling after all these years.
Openers Wild Flag played a short, but strong set that sounded like an amalgam of Helium, the previous band of guitarist and vocalist Mary Timony, and the much-beloved and missed Sleater-Kinney, other guitarist Carrie Brownstein‘s previous band. At its best, Timony and Brownstein’s guitar interplay reminded me of Television, though on occasion I did wish it was Sleater-Kinney up there instead.
Kurt Vile started off the night with a full-band set backed by his band The Violators. It was a nice, albeit very short set that warmed the crowd up nicely for Wild Flag and Sonic Youth.
