Yo La Tengo kicked off their first acoustic tour with a bang diving right into “Tried So Hard” and for two hours, the band showed Troy, NY why they are one of the most revered bands in indie rock. With the beautiful Troy Savings Bank Music Hall as their back drop, the band were in mid-tour form already, sounding great even without all their pedals and gadgets with them on stage.
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Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, James McNew have been touring as a three piece since 1992, but having just celebrated their 30th anniversary of being a band, they recently reunited with original guitarist Dave Schramm and recorded a new album. The trio is playing unplugged while Dave fills out the music with wonderful lead guitar. On a few songs in the second set, he played a wild slide guitar changing the landscape from indie rock to country and finally led us to outer space in “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind.”
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Ira was talkative to the crowd throughout the evening, joking a lot about it being the kick off of the tour. Between songs in the first set, he decided to just hang out for a bit and let the silence fill the room for no particular reason other than to just reflect on life. Some choice covers of “Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure and “Dream On” by Herman’s Hermits showed how diverse the music Yo La Tengo’s has been influenced by. There wasn’t a moment during the two sets where the audience wasn’t hanging on every note and word played by the band. The band really let loose near the end of the second set with a jammed out “OHM,” where each member got a brief moment to shine.
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After two sets of music, which would have worked better as one long set, the crowd roared for more and got it when the band came back out for a three song encore. Ira asked the crowd if there were any requests and song names could be heard throughout the venue. The band settled on “Yellow Sarong,” “The Summer,” and “Speeding Motorcycle.” As the last notes rang, Ira, Georgia, James, and Dave put their instruments down, waved goodbye, and slowly left the stage to a rapturous applause. Yo La Tengo sounds great in this configuration, and if you’re a fan of the band, it’s almost like seeing them for the first time again.
YLT Setlist
Article: Bryan Lasky
