Washing machine has always been one of my favorites SY records..its really good...can you upload the first night?
Also, Washing machine, the user, is really great too.

to both points.

http://sonicyouth.utkonos.org/lossless/ ... ud.flac16/

Knock yrself out.

This is going straight to the guys at @cactus_music.

Also, I may've been too unkind to The Eternal on reflection: while it's not exactly a fitting final statement, they've had a number of albums that you could class as transitional before. I'm thinking of Experimental Jet Set etc. and Murray Street in particular - records that I didn't (and don't) really care for, but I understand their place in the discography as a bridge between (for example) the Sonic Youth that produced Dirty and that which made Washing Machine.

Their last real release was SYR9 which I found really interesting and enjoyable. Combined with the return in 2011 of some of the long-forgotten Bad Moon Rising material, it felt as though they were venturing back into the haunting and spooked aspects of their sound that were quite prominent through the early-to-mid 80s.

Who knows if they'll ever decide to do anything else as a band. As Lee's said, and I think he's the only member I've read comment on it, it's not like they'll ever really be apart since there will always be reasons for them to discuss Sonic Youth issues - like the upcoming 1985 live album, for instance. They did manage to make it through that whole South American tour last year after T & K split, so it's not as though it's beyond the realms of possibility.

Spencer, I'm guessing that Thurston, Kim, Yoko release was recorded a while back?

Yeah, I read an interview with Kim the other day where I'm pretty sure she said it was recorded around 18 months ago (so, early 2011 or thereabouts).

I'd wager there's a lot of tension on that album. Far be it from me to care too much about a band's dirty laundry, but sometimes knowing these sorts of things makes for an interesting listen.

If any of you guys don't have this one yet, it's a must (soundboard/audience matrix):

http://sonicyouth.utkonos.org/lossless/ ... er.flac16/

Kim Gordon and the arturh doyle cream was supposed to be about Mariah Carey right?

Yeah, when I saw them a few months before Nurse came out, Kim introduced the song as "Kim Gordon and the Mariah Carey Hand Cream." Mariah is also mentioned in the lyrics.

i think they didnt want any kind of trouble or something.

This thread is making me recall the best time I saw Sonic Youth.

I've seen them 4 times, though it should be more like 8 or 9 times. I missed golden opportunities to see them in 1997, 2000 and 2002 (this time I even had a ticket...grrr) so I didn't see them in 2003. I saw them twice that year, as they were winding down the Murray Street tour. The first time was great, as it was cool to hear all of Murray Street as well as "Eric's Trip", "Teenage Riot", "Schizophrenia" and "Kool Thing". Still, they were great but they weren't transcendent. They may have been because I saw a fairly underwhelming PJ show the next night (6/18/03 in Chicago). But they weren't god-like.

The second time was god-like.

They were finishing up the Murray Street tour with a tour headlining a few small festivals and opening up for Iggy and the Stooges. I found out via a small flier in my town in downstate Illinois that Sonic Youth was to headline Goose Island Fest, a festival put on by Goose Island Beer, on August 15. The support acts were awesome too - Guided By Voices and Bob Mould. Tickets were only $20. We got tickets easily and got really stoked.

The "festival" took place in an abandoned steelyard in Chicago with lax security. There must have been 10 people recording that night. There were two bands before Bob Mould, one of whom was the Waco Brothers. I don't remember much about them or Bob Mould for that matter, though I remember Bob Mould being good. Guided By Voices were awesome, really awesome. They had an hour and I think they played something like 35-40 songs. I remember Bob Pollard declaring towards the end of their set: "Most bands when they have 5 minutes left play one song; we're gonna do 5!". They were great.

And then came Sonic Youth.



I took a whole bunch of photos that night as we were really close to the stage. They came on around dusk and opened with "Rain On Tin". I could tell it was on; that was and is my favorite song on Murray Street and you could tell that they were really into it. They hadn't played in a week and this was to be one of the last headlining sets that tour.

The main set was FANTASTIC:

Rain On Tin
Drunken Butterfly
White Kross
Skip Tracer
The Empty Page
Plastic Sun
Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style
Catholic Block
Karenology
Mariah Carey and the Arthur Doyle Handcream
100%
Sympathy for the Strawberry

I'd heard "Catholic Block" at the St. Louis show earlier that summer but was delighted to hear it again. "White Kross" and "Skip Tracer" were very, very welcome. I never got to see them on the Washing Machine tour so hearing "Skip Tracer" was a delight. "100%" really got the crowd going. It was obvious that it was a crowd that was very into Sonic Youth.

They came back out for a first encore and played "Peace Attack", which I'd heard earlier that year in St. Louis. It was nice to hear again. I figured their time might be short so me and my friends started requesting "Expressway to Yr Skull", which I had read they had resurrected earlier that summer". If you listen to the recording of the show you can very clearly hear us. They instead played "Making the Nature Scene", which was awesome. I love it when they play early stuff live so it was cool to hear, though I think I would have preferred "Brother James". Still, I wasn't complaining. That was encore 1.

Then they came back out. Our section requested "Expressway" one last time, and this time they obliged.

It was transcendent.



If you ever got to see them play this song, you know what I'm talking about. To me it's always been one of my top 2-3 SY songs (high praise) but live it's even more amazing, seeing them wring and wrench feedback from their guitars over Kim's descending bassline. Jim O'Rourke really meshed well with them here, adding touches of noise to Thurston and Lee's feedback. The ending to this version was very subdued but very beautiful, as they tapped on the necks of their guitars to let the low feedback build and build, similar to the studio version. It was a great ending to a great show.

I saw them twice after this and although I got setlists both shows, got to bang on Thurston's guitar at the end of "Schizophrenia" one night and finally got to hear "Silver Rocket" and "Death Valley '69", they never came close to topping that night in Chicago.

I hope to see them again in the future. It would make me very sad if they decided to hang it up for good.

Great reflection, Matt. You're making me feel bummed that I didn't get into them in time to see them. I could have easily made the gig you're talking about.

Great post Matt...you always write great stuff...here are my two memories of SY live.

First time i saw them was in 2000, in my country Buenos Aires...they were touring NYC ghosts & flowers, which i didnt listened yet. I was pretty much into them because of Dirty and some other record but i wasnt a real fan, i wasnt obsessed with them it was more like, lets see this great band , they have some good songs.
I was impressed by dirty and kinda wanted them to play those songs. A few months before the show i got into some other stuff, mainly daydream nation and washing machine and some singles and videos from that era. I was now into full fan mode.
They played in a really cool festival as headliners and Sean Lennon open for them. I didn´t know him at all and his show was pretty boring, the girl from Cibo Matto was there...all their songs sounded the same to me.
Just before SY a inmense storm came...even if there was a roof, the storm was so wild there were rumors of the show being canceled...but after a while they came out and played this setlist:

SET LIST
Schizophrenia
White Kross
Bull in the Heather
Free City Rhymes
Nevermind
Side2Side
Mote
She is Not Alone
Kool Thing
Burning Spear
NYC Ghosts & Flowers
--
100%
Brother James

I didnt know many of the songs, but was pretty happy to hear 100%, kool thing, bull in the heater...the "hits".
But the performance was something i didnt expect...seeing jim o rourke with them also helped...they were so fucking intense...they came grab the instruments and just fucking rocked. Here we are, this is SY, that´s what i felt that night.
Kim totally stole the show, from her jumps and talent playing to her singing...during kool thing she just grabed the mic and sang closer to the audience and just enchanted everyone.
I left and the rain was just pouring, with lightnings and eveyrything...a real mess...came home at 5 o clock in the morning, mud all over me, freezing but happy.

Cut to eleven years after....now im officially a SY real fan. I can say why i dont like mark ibold playing with them , why i prefer the diamond sea version in WM than in the b sides compilation and why im crazy in love with Sonic Nurse but not Rather Ripped.
I was about the see them in Texas in 2009 but they canceled because of someone´s injury....they came to brazil and uruguay i think but not played here, so it was always close but not just yet...
Then they announce the gig and a few months later their hiatus. I knew then that the show, the first one in a long time, was going to just different.
And boy it was. There was this tension there, and it just seemed to helped them to fucking rock out. Lee was on fire and now thurston moore stole the show...everything was about him, the guitars, the singing..it was like he was telling everybody, hey this is my band ok?
Both nights teenage riot was in the setlist but not fucking played....

Thanks. I'm listening to a recording of this show now and it's just as good as I remember it being.

Too bad the show you described above hasn't surfaced. I was thinking that was the show MTV broadcast until I looked it up - the full pro-shot broadcast out there is the show from the night before in Brazil. Your show sounds fantastic.

it was amazing, and different. I dont think i was so blown away by some show as that one at the time. I didnt metion that a week after i saw Lou Reed in the Ectasy tour in some Theatre in Buenos Aires. So in a week, two icons from New York live...the Lou Reed show was amazing too...he even did Perfect Day and Walk on the wild side.

Rather Ripped is good...i enjoyed a lot more...also Corporate Ghost is a great dvd.

yep - should be cool hearing whatever they put out from these recordings