The sun has just disappeared behind the red brick tower of Cains Brewery, and tonight’s gig goers file into the aircraft hangar-like space of Content, eagerly awaiting take-off. An 8pm start has been circulated on social media, and nobody wants to miss the band that supports themselves, a.k.a. Yo La Tengo. We’re only kept waiting fifteen minutes as last-minute roadie checks get us ready for the first set.
Opening with Sinatra Drive Breakdown from their latest LP, there’s no warming up required. James McNew takes lead vocal on the second song, Tonight’s Episode, his Gibson Thunderbird bass probing in and around Ira Kaplan’s spooky guitar loops and organ.
Aselestine is spectral and gorgeous, and there’s a beautiful hush to the heart of the first set, especially with a pin drop rendition of I’ll Be Around, which outlives the studio version by a good couple of minutes, and a tremolo and wah-wah-laden The Ballad of Red Buckets. I Feel Like Going Home is a highlight, with Georgia Hubley upfront on the organ, and the constant shifting, morphing sound well reflects the “restless imagination” of the lyrics.
A few crackles from faulty leads aside, there is an awe-inspiring command of sound from the three-piece, marshalling several instruments each with total control over volume – there’s subtlety and sledgehammers alike. Miles Away employs a drum machine augmented by Hubley’s echoing vocals and looping guitar from Kaplan, and I genuinely don’t know how they manage to make the song increase in sound throughout, the drum machine doubling back on itself as the guitar layers build and build.
There’s a lot of humour running through the set, beginning when Kaplan stops a brilliant version of Periodically Double or Triple to remind us that wearing a helmet is advisable when riding a bike, remonstrating with the younger version of himself who penned the lyrics, and admonishing the crowd for cheering the line when it comes. It also emerges later in their choice of ‘local’ cover version for the encore, a 12-string jaunt through The Rutles’ I Must Be In Love which gets ironic approval from the crowd.
The second set opens with a percussion only version of the Sun Ra Arkestra’s Nuclear War, which again shows a sense of dark humour. The band have recorded and performed several versions of this before, including with the Arkestra themselves, and tonight’s rendition does not disappoint – it’s a motherfucker, don’t you know?
Then they deliver a brilliant version of Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House from And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, with Georgia again impressing on vocals. The instrument swapping is seamless and interesting throughout, with all taking turns on organ and vocals, McNew drumming when required as on a pummelling version of the title track from This Stupid World, and on a double drumkit rendition of the venerable Autumn Sweater which brings strong grooves, even if they could perhaps have cranked the organ volume a little. Fuzz bass follows on For You Too, a distant cousin of the classic Tom Courtenay which also gets an airing. Kaplan’s unique brand of guitar wrangling is in full effect for second set closer The Story of Yo La Tango, which brings the wall of noise to full fruition.
The encore is a touching addition to the main set, including an audience request, much discussed and debated among the hardcore fans at the front. Ira picks a couple in matching Yo La Tengo T-shirts to choose a song that works with their setup, the mini drumkit, acoustic guitar and bass, and land on a stripped down version of fan favourite Moby Octopad, usually a feedback-full driver with soaring backwards guitar, shaking tambourines and thumping bass drum, here rendered lullaby-like. “I didn’t even know we could do it like that!” Kaplan exclaims at the end.
Regretfully, I only boarded the Yo La Tengo train recently, but the very first time I saw them play, I vowed never to miss them when they came round to the Northwest, and I would advise readers to catch them whenever and wherever possible. The setlist always shifts subtly, and the catalogue is so vast as to be an endless ocean; sometimes stormy noise, sometimes calm sea melodies, but always compelling to navigate your way through.
It’s a testament to the bands power that songs from their forty-year lifespan all nestle comfortably against each other, and their closing song from 1990’s Fakebook, a cover of the Flamin’ Groovies You Tore Me Down sounds as fresh as tracks from their current album. The relentless reinvention of their material as they tour ceaselessly almost makes them the indie-rock equivalent of The Grateful Dead, splicing material in new ways to keep it interesting for band and audience alike. “Restless imagination” indeed.
Set 1:
Sinatra Drive Breakdown
Tonight’s Episode
Periodically Double or Triple
Aselestine
Until It Happens
I Feel Like Going Home
I’ll Be Around
The Ballad of Red Buckets
Miles Away
Set 2:
Nuclear War (The Sun Ra Arkestra cover)
Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House
Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)
Fallout
Autumn Sweater
For You Too
This Stupid World
Drug Test
Tom Courtenay
The Story of Yo La Tango
Encore:
The Race Is On Again
I Must Be In Love (The Rutles cover)
Moby Octopad
You Tore Me Down (Flamin’ Groovies cover)
One reply on “Yo La Tengo @ Content, Liverpool – 30/08/2024”
Brilliant review Sam. The EOTR set was special.