captainamerika

Last night I saw Sonic Youth at the 9:30 club here in DC. A good show, but not they were not in peak form. Maybe they are starting to be less good. Fair enough, after doing this stuff for more than 25 years. But maybe it was just an off night. Can happen to any band. I just never felt so much like they were going through the motions without caring much. Maybe part of it is my expectations, which are really high for them. They did have some excellent moments. But there were more times than usual when their aggresive, grating noise just seemed like, well, aggresive, grating noise. The magic of Sonic Youth happens, for me, when they transform the noise and seeming chaos into something terribly beautiful. This does happen often at their shows, and on their albums too. And it did for a few moments last night too. But...

Maybe I was too close to Kim. I was right in front of her. She is, for me, both musically and personality-wise, the most difficult member of the group, the one who most clearly is able to dispense with the pop sweetness that leavens so many of Thurston's songs. She is one tough woman. There's a photograph of her from years ago by Richard Kern in which she's standing outside a pick-up truck in the country with a shotgun. I swear she really looks like she's gonna shoot you.

Lee seemed in fine form as always. He's my favorite. He makes a more controlled noise than Thurston or Kim. And Steve was positively enthusiastic playing drums. I shouldn't complain. Really. It was a good show.

On a more upbeat note, the openers were excellent, a band called Endless Boogie. They do a kind of hard-edged, rockin' blues with touches of psychedelia. And they are true to their name. They just go into a groove and stay with it. I think their first song lasted 25 minutes. The second and final song was probably 10 minutes. Highly recommended. I think I'm going to buy their album.

Anyways, tonite is round two. I'll be going again. This time I think I'll stand over by Lee.

Have a fine day.