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YO LA TENGO’s now seemingly annual (this is the fourth year of the last five that they’ve done it) Eight Nights of Hanukkah, during which they play a show on each night of Hanukkah at Maxwell’s, is a must-see. On each night, they get prominent guests of both the musical and comic varieties to open for them (previous years have seen guests ranging from RAY DAVIES to JANEANE GAROFALO take the stage). And their set, which varies nightly, is full of covers and other surprises, often including said special guests taking the stage with them.
On this night, the first night of this year’s marathon, THE MAD SCENE was the opening band. To be honest, I know very little about them, except that they’re led by HAMISH KILGOUR, a former member of THE CLEAN, the legendary New Zealand band led by Hamesh’s brother DAVID KILGOUR. I also know that The Mad Scene hasn’t been together in any form for 10 years, so in a sense Yo La Tengo got them back together. As for their music, they reminded me of some of their New Zealand pop contemporaries (think the Flying Nun catalog) and their American, VELVET UNDERGROUND-inspired counterparts like GALAXIE 500.
After a short break, the comedian EUGENE MIRMAN took the stage. Being a fan of the his, I knew to expect nothing short of utter hilarity. And we got just that, in the form of videos showing Mirman dressed as a medieval knight, another video about Canada, and jokes ranging from cracks on the holiday season to a hilarious sex survey that he made up for Playgirl magazine. I was a bit disappointed that many of his jokes were similar to when I saw him a few months ago, at Pianos, but it was still nice to see Yo La Tengo have him as their opener.
After another short break, Yo La Tengo came on, with guitarist IRA KAPLAN dressed as Santa Claus, bassist JAMES MCNEW dressed as a Hasidic rabbi, and drummer GEORGIA HUBLEY in a Robin costume. Opening with a funky version of MADONNA’s “Holiday,” they proceeded to play a rather noisy set which juxtaposed comparatively recent material like “Little Eyes” (from 2003’s underrated Summer Sun) and “The Crying of Lot G” (from 2000’s brilliant And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out) with older numbers like “Autumn Sweater” and “Shaker.” The end of the main set featured Kilgour joining the band (first on drums and then on guitar) for several songs, including “Deeper Into Movies.”
For the encore, Kaplan and Hubley sang a beautiful version of “Big Day Coming” which reminded me of the harmonizing between GRAM PARSONS and EMMYLOU HARRIS on Parsons’s two solo albums GP and Grievous Angel. It was simply gorgeous. Then Kilgour and fellow Mad Scene member LISA SIEGEL sang a great version of SERGE GAINSBOURG’s “Je T’Aime…Moi Non Plus” backed by Yo La Tengo.
For the final song, Kaplan brought out his mother to sang “My Little Corner of the World.” It was a nice gesture from a band which gives off a nice-guy vibe. Judging by their relative success (as evidenced by eight sold-out nights), it goes to show that nice guys (and gals) don’t always finish last. They give the impression of being regular people who are still wowed by music, who get invigorated when they make it and perform it live, as evidenced by Kaplan’s shrieks and freakouts that seem to happen every time he generates ear-bleeding feedback. Long live Yo La Tengo!
Yo La Tengo
Eugene Mirman
The Mad Scene
