I last saw Yo La Tengo was at Glastonbury in 2000…..18 years of buying their records and not seeing them perform the tunes live…..it was such a joy to hear Ira and Georgia’s subdued vocals in the flesh – smiles all around – blowing us all away with 2 sets – the first, a very low key and quiet one (no one dared clap between tunes at first), the second a rousing blow the roof off the place set (with a few quiet bits too).
This was my first gig at the Church and I was impressed. It was still light when they started the first set which showed off the venues stain glass windows a treat. The stage is quite high up so you can get a good vue and the sound was great.
James and Georgia did the usual swaping of drumming duties along with playing guitars, bass, double bass, synths…..whilst Ira did mostly guitars with some wild abandon on the solos. So many top tunes – ‘From a Motel 6’ being a real blast from the past. There was a beautiful version of the Velvets ‘I found a reason’ and the first song of the encore…. “It would be too corny to come to Leeds and play a WHO song wouldn’t it?” but that’s what they did which was obviously their highlight of the night seeing the smiles on their faces.
Lee had got us these tickets as a Christmas present – well worth the wait. Hope it’s not another 18 years before next time……
Bob the Chiropodist