Sonic Youth/Wilco

[Futureman]

Saw SY/Wilco concert last night. It was my 4th time to see Wilco, but my first SY concert.

Wow. They fuckin' ripped it up.

[earl grey]

Did Sonic Youth close the show? And did they both play full sets? Seeing them both twice next week in Central Park and I can't wait. (Just as long as this shit weather we've been having in NYC lets up a little bit...)

[Futureman]

SY played first, which was actually a good idea for the Cleveland show since most of the people around me seemed to be there for Wilco.

And yes, both bands played full sets. SY setlist:

Peace Attack (new song. Very "Murray Street" like).
Bull in the Heather
Empty Page
Shadow of a Doubt
Disconnection Notice
Eric's Trip
Catholic Block
Plastic Sun
Rain on Tin
Mariah Carey and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream
Karen revisited
Sympathy for the Strawberry

encore--expressway to yr skull

I know I am forgeting one song. Sorry...

[earl grey]

cool, thanks for the details. the murray street songs rock live, as do "shadow of a doubt" and "eric's trip"....

they never seem to play "the diamond sea" any more ... i first saw them on the washing machine tour and they ended the main set with a blistering version of it ... the absolute highlight of the show. would love to see them pull it out again....

[jt. r]

this may be old news to some of you, but sonic youth has backed out of the boston show and may back out of the others, pending. personal reasons were cited as cause. Mission of Burma agreed to play Boston, but unfortunately we don't have a stellar 80's band here in philly just lying in wait, as far as i know. unless, the nazz (sans god-given ass) are resurrected from Upper Darby.
i really can't see the roots joining wilco onstage, and coltrane's dead, so he's out too. i don't think the lilys would play the festival pier, either.
but there's always bardo pond, the local band all the out-of-towners come to see! i'd love to see wilco fans react to "ganges" for example.

[tinobeat]

I was just about to post about that..

unfortunately I have to work tonight so I can't go see Wilco/MoB (a lineup change for the better, at least IMO, seeing as how last time I saw SY it was kind of so-so, and Mission of Burma KILLED when I saw them last year), but funny you mention Bardo Pond, cos they're playing tonight at the Middle East, where I work, so hopefully the restaurant won't be busy and I can just go watch them play while waiting for tables to sit down and decide what they want...

I'm trying to think if I know any other Philly bands...

um, Aspera? are they still there?

see, its a shame really, because MoB is about the only band that would be a fitting replacement for SY, just because most of the crowd there for SY would probably be just as excited to see Burma. or at least in retrospect be excited.. or something. yeah.

[jt. r]

according to their website, they're skipping two dates, boston and wallingford, CT. they're real troupers, regardless.

[jt. r]

sonic youth opened. the festival pier was relatively crowded as the night wore on, but it felt like an intimate setting for the sy set, since most attendees were there for wilco. it was so quiet between songs-it was kinda uncomfortable. i shouted "thurston, you're so dreamy!" to break up the silence. their set was a good mixture of old and new that the few fans in attendance really enjoyed it.
wilco played the most lopsided set i've seen. my girlfriend is an unreconstructed fan, and even she found it a little boring. they played three "new" songs, two summerteeth, and the remainder was all being there stuff. the first encore brought two "loose fur" tracks w/ jim o'rourke guesting. the second song of the encore, entitled "kicking television" had steve shelley on percussion with kotche on drums. they reworked "misunderstood" masterfully and the new drum arrangement is really great, but the set ended flat. there were no band intros from wilco, despite featuring a new keybs/powerbook junkie.

[9000]

how were the summerstage shows?

[jt. r]

unclear. however, if the info posted to the sonic youth message board is any indication (and isn't apocryphal), they were amazing. wilco on the other hand, was so-so, if setlists posted on the wilco setlist project are a good proxy for the performance itself.
this can be said: wilco's new visuals are really great. at one point they played footage taken from a motor launch on the schuylkill looking toward the nighttime traffic on kelly drive. it was really kewl. they also had great footage of a house being torn apart by a fireball-it might've been stock from the a-bomb tests in new mexico during the 50's.

[earl grey]

i thought the summerstage shows were both great - wilco was better on thursday, SY blew me away on friday though. thursday's show was miserably hot during SY's set, the crowd seemed pretty disinterested. (they were definitely there for wilco.) SY's set was heavy on murray street, with a few older songs thrown in ... catholic block, eric's trip, only one or two others i think. they encored with sugar kane. i thought they were pretty good, though it was mellow - they've been better when i've seen them in the past. the crowd's apathy didn't help either, i'm sure. wilco was fantastic on thursday - almost 100% YHF and new songs, with just two from being there and nothing else old i think. jim o'rourke came out for the two song encore. the YHF songs sounded really great (especially poor places and IATTBYH), and glenn kotche does some unbelievable things behind the drums i think.

the weather was much better friday, and the crowd was WAY more into sonic youth. it showed - an amazing set, lots of energy (and noise), they really f'in rocked. mainly murray street, plus she is not alone to start, drunken butterfly, expressway to yr skull (encore), a couple others. jim went absolutely nuts during radical adults lick godhead style. the crowd kept on asking for them to turn up their amps, ultimately they obliged. wilco was a little flatter friday compared to thursday. setlist was more balanced - much more being there, plus a couple from summerteeth (incl. always in love) ... less new stuff. they were definitely good though.

one thing that sucked both nights is that central park seems to have a 10 PM curfew - cut things short.

[cwmontgo]

I'm going tonight and was wondering how long the shows last?