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reviews
LIVE: Sonic Youth w/ Stereolab
The Warehouse, Toronto, ON
source: chart attack
by Matt Mernagh
2000-06-12
Sonic Youth beautifully recreated their latest album, NYC Ghosts and Flowers, but they didn't seem overly inspired about it. They almost went out of their way to make the show average. Their lone visual, a movie showing different buildings in New York City played in the background and was interesting to watch, but failed to inspire.
Even the fact that album producer Jim O'Rourke was on stage, introduced by Lee Renaldo as "Our friend Jim," playing just about every instrument couldn't excite the entire audience. There was just something in their sound and performance that made this show bland. Sure it had its moments like when Thurston Moore busted his guitar during "Burnin' Spear," effectively making it the last time the band will ever be able to play the song again due to the extensive customization of their instruments.
Kim Gordon shakin' and dancin' during "Kool Thang" was also an interesting sight to see as O'Rourke took over the bass duties on that number. Still the crowd didn't seem to go crazy for her, although it did get the biggest response of the night. When Gordon sang about corporate oppression a FedEx truck appeared on the screen, and it was hard to tell whether that was an artistic statement or not.
On paper this concert looked like the perfect double bill, something that could really kick ass and take names, but maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe both bands were having an off night.
Stereolab, who were really loud too, failed to live up to their great albums. They didn't even come close, but at the same time they were entertaining. Do great albums make for average live shows? Both bands seemed to prove this theory.
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