SONIC YOUTH/AFRIRAMPO/DECAER
PINGE
Glasgow Barrowlands, 1st September 2004
It’s been 12 years since I’ve seen Sonic Youth live – 12 years in which the band have ripped up any plans for commercial success and resolutely trod their own path. It’s a coincidence however that I catch up with them again at a time when they’ve made their most accessible LP since 1992’s ‘Dirty’ and tonight illustrates that maybe just maybe SY could still be a major act in terms of selling records.
Still more of that later. DECAER PINGE are first up and “play” one thing for half an hour. No instruments, no songs, just noises. Ho hum.
AFRIRAMPO are much better. There’s two of them, both Japanese and female, but they sound like they come from outer space. Weird garage rock shit, probably, but quite entertaining.
So to the headliners. I must confess to having been a little surprised that SONIC YOUTH were still playing the Barras, the last few years have hardly been major commercial success, but they do and they come close to filling it with a surprisingly young audience.
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As expected SY play a lot of the new
album and, as I’d hoped, it all sounds marvellous. ‘Nurse’ is an excellent
record, maybe better than that, but it’s just a teeny wee bit restrained. Live
of course SY are never restrained. ‘Golden Blue’ is a far more effective opener than you might expect from the LP and from there on in it was just highlight after highlight. ‘Stones’, the explosive finales to ‘Pattern Recognition’ and ‘Karenology’, a thrilling ‘White Kross’, an angry ‘Paper Cup Exit’ and the crowd pleasing ‘Kool Thing’ to close. |
In truth there were only 2 minor disappointments – first that they didn’t play for like another half hour and secondly the climax to ‘Rain on Tin’ was more than a little rushed and losing some of its power in the process.
Thurston is always entertaining to watch (and gonzo amusing too) whilst Kim proved to be compelling as a front person (particularly when freed from the constraints of a guitar.) Lee is just cool whilst Jim just did his stuff brilliantly.
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I’d forgotten just how good SY are live – I just hope it’s not another 8 years before they play another headlining show in Scotland. This sounds like faint praise but honestly I LOVE this band and they were brilliant. Check them out if you can. And I know that being massive doesn't matter to them but I still love the idea of it all the same.
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Sonic Youth Setlist
1. I Love You
Golden Blue 2. Stones 3. Pattern Recognition 4. Unmade Bed 5. Karenology 6.
New Hampshire 7. Mariah Carey & The Arthur Doyle Handcream 8. White Kross 9.
Rain On Tin 10. Dude Ranch Nurse 11. Paper Cup Exit 12. Kool Thing
Encore
13. Pacific Coast Highway
