Saturday 7 November 2009
I went to see Yo La Tengo yesterday with John. Full disclosure: it was a freebie through the tattered ruins of Pulp; an arrangement made when the flag still hung to the pole with a light breeze behind it. It now lies moulding and forlorn in a gutter somewhere down the Oxford Road corridor. But I digress.
The gig was at Academy 2 and, as happens so often, we had to walk past the queues for Academy 1 to get in. 3Oh3(?) were playing there, and the queue for that gig was markedly different to the crowd for Yo La Tengo: about a quarter of the age, for starters (although the number of parents accompanying pubescent pop-punkers to the gig will have helped balance the numbers at least).
We had occasion to sit in University of Manchester Union’s new bar beforehand too, which wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience. It’s recently had a refit and looks about as un-student-bar-like as you could imagine. It just looks like an Ikea showroom and I hear that the prices had to be raised to meet the costs. Having visited many times last year, the bar seemed modern and clean enough then so I’m not sure what prompted the refit.
Heading into Academy 2 for the first time (I’m slowly ticking them off) was a revelation – Academy 1 holds itself very well as a large venue; Academy 3 as a smaller club. Academy 2, however, feels an awful lot like a school assembly hall. It’s not an ugly venue by any means, but it does feel as though it lacks a soul. This wasn’t helped to begin with by the support act, Euros Childs, with a fairly small sound given the size of the room. His set picked up towards the end though, with some genuinely funny and heart-warming tracks and some choice banter.
Yo La Tengo emerged quietly and quickly, before launching into a squall of feedback-laden guitar over a pounding beat from one of the tightest rhythm sections I’ve seen. Their set was well paced, with longer wig-out jams interspersed with some of their poppier gems being played at 99mph, along with several quiet moments.
I’m not geekily over-familiar with Yo La Tengo’s back catalogue; I’ve owned the excellent Prisoners of Love compilation for a few years and have a smattering of live sessions and odd tracks from other soundtracks or compilations. Their recent new album Popular Songs caught me out of the blue and I’ve been playing it almost daily since it came out. But I was more than happy with what they played, not least a gorgeous, sprawling 14-minute rendition of Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind.
There was some good interaction too, with references to missing out on playing Manchester on their last tour, and a slightly messy Bob Dylan cover (with Euros Childs and his bassist joining in) in a tongue-in-cheek reference to one of their “favourite Manchester records” (the Free Trade Hall bootleg mistakenly attributed to the Royal Albert Hall).
The set was capped off with a lovely, beautifully-harmonised performance of You Can Have It All, perfectly showcasing the band’s proficiency for quiet, delicate numbers alongside riffed-out Krautrock beatdowns.
Once again on the stroll home I had to remind myself never to take for granted my current proximity to some of the best venues in the country, and access to some of the best touring bands in the world. Years of slogging it home on a 90-minute tube journey from central London to my home in South Bucks took their toll on my enthusiasm for live music, but it was always worth it.
*****
It is possibly of some note, although only to myself, that Biffy Clyro were in town last night too. When the tour was announced and Future of the Left were to be the main support, the gig seemed like a good idea. This was quickly reverted to Pulled Apart By Horses who, while they put on a decent live show, aren’t quite as much of a pull as FotL. I was further put off by the Apollo’s apparent location on the set of some kind of post-apocalyptic disaster movie, and the ticket price was enough to put me off entirely.
I’ve spoken recently about my love affair with Biffy, but I can’t remember when I last saw them live and at no point yesterday did I feel like I wished I was seeing them instead of Yo La Tengo. Funny old world. I just thought I’d mention it as I’m giving Biffy’s new album a spin for the first time just now. More on that at a later date, I’m sure.
