[Bertrand]

 

Hi!

Just confirming that the band looked great on their mini-tour.
Den Atelier, a former garage, was sold out. Its capacity : 1000 people.
Opening act was Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides, a woman on flute, a guy on drums experimenting about sounds (including a device that twitched whatever came out of his mouth). They left most people unconvinced.
Sonic Youth : the stage seemed crowded with the 5 of them, yet they had room to move about and they were in a very good mood.

Here went the main set:

- Incinerate
- Bull in the Heather
- The Sprawl (great)
- 'Cross the Breeze (Kim seemed a bit annoyed with the sound)
- I presume it was Antenna (?), according to previous setlists; a new one for sure, the only one I could not identify
- Hey Joni
- Sacred Trickster
- Calming the Snake
- World Looks Red
- What We Know
- Jams Run Free (Thurston said they'd play a song out of Sonic Nurse, they all looked surprised and amused, Lee mentioned his partner was lying to the audience; Thurston came and asked for it to be deleted and erased, which I'll do now)
- Pink Steam

Thurston's hands on the guitar were a treat to observe. His voice was pretty good too.
About the new songs: Calming the Snake really got me, and it ended too soon; slightly comparable to Bull or the mood they were in at the time.
The new things sounded more colourful and warmer to my ear.
Ending with Pink Steam was a bit of a surprise, as it did not match the rest of the set list - a bit cold.

Then the encore:

- Schizophrenia
- No Way (the weakest new one?)
- Kool Thing

On Kool Thing, Kim dared the audience. She came close to people, pointed the mike to the crowd, went back and forth, causing a mayhem at the core of the attendance, moshers rushing forward.

Second encore:

Probably encouraged by what they'd seen, Thurston and Lee tried to have the audience even more involved by the end of
- Teenage Riot
And I felt slightly disappointed thinking that one would close the gig (just like blunderbuss reading the Dusseldorf setlist - either teenage or expressway - though I realise people may not have seen those at all). Yet...
Thurston held his guitar high. So did Lee. Both came up front and held their instruments flat above forests of arms and hands trying to hit a chord. Then Thurston took one step, put a foot on the barrier parting stage and audience. He stretched his arm to be gripped by people in the first row, put his second foot on the barrier, secured by the bemused security guy behind him, and then proceded to walk on top of the crowd, briefly followed by Lee.
Both returned with their instruments to end the song and say thank you.

I was ideally located and really enjoyed the show.

And Mark Ibold on the new songs is really good. You dig the bass and look for who's playing, and that's him. On all new songs, great things.

[greenlight]

cheers for the review! I am pasting this setlist to 09 setlist thread.

[_slavo_]

I like the way you write, Bertrand.

[Trasher02]

Damn why was I not informed about this gig?

[lukin]

What a night They band was on fire. The sprawl was just AMAZING tonight and the new ones just getting better and better.
The sound in the venue was one of the best I´ve heard. So not much to complaint about, of course they could have played brother james but you can´t get it all=) Really great to hear kool thing, Kim just spiced that one up severed levels

[sgrisey]

I've put some iphone videos of that night on youtube, just look for "sonic youth luxembourg" or user sgrisey57 (crappy sound ahead you've been warned...)
Seb

[lukin]

Oh and I forget http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWOjgYcaPVQ

[diamondsea]

Excellent... Thank you Bertrand