Yo La Tengo, Town Hall, New York, NY, February 29, 2000 with support act Lambchop
This was a slow, quiet show in support of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, a slow, quiet record.
The band may have taken that aesthetic to the extreme but this era of Yo La Tengo is stand-out in the context of a long and winding career. Their reductive, deconstructive songwriting blended with wear-it-on-your-sleeve humor and influences (including tracks inspired by or named after sources as diverse as Thomas Pynchon and The Simpsons) collide with come-to-be-expected covers including songs by Jackson Browne ("Somebody's Baby"), KC and the Sunshine Band via George McCrae ("You Can Have It All"), and one sure rave-up, a cover of "Let's Compromise" by jazz-fusion group Vital Information.
I do not remember the details of this show vividly, though I do remember impressions of the night: my view of the stage from my seat and enjoying a bit of a warm, blissful feeling conjured by the music.
Lambchop, another band toying with their sound on their then-most-recent album, Nixon, were an inspired choice for support act. A few years earlier the juxtaposition would have been a bit of a head-scratcher (though no less welcome). By this time, the bands had more in common that ever before (or again).
This recording of Yo La Tango's set, from my personal archive, captures the essence and mood of the show, in all it's quiet lo-fi glory.
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