Yo La Tengo @ Warehouse Live

I was extremely excited going into Thursday night's Yo La Tengo show, mostly because the first three times I've seen them were all excellent. The New Jersey trio which features the husband/wife duo of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley and longstanding member James McNew, were last in Houston when they opened for My Morning Jacket before SXSW in 2008, so a return trip was well overdue. Their latest album Popular Songs was on full display during the 2-hour performance, but it was their steps back to the classic material and some interesting cover choices that really brought out YLT's true talent.

Read all about the show after the jump

Words and photos by Jim "Eggs" Bricker

We arrived during the second-to-last song of openers Times New Viking, and from the back of the ballroom it sounded like a cloudy mess of distorted indie-rock. I've seen TNV on a few different occasions, so I know that they can put on a great performance, but between the crowd chatter and the lofty ceiling, it didn't sound the best from where I stood to the right of the soundboard. I took the time to grab a beer and meet up with a group of friends who were all in attendance to catch their first Yo La Tengo show.

Despite the bands quite lengthy career, I finally fell in love with Yo La Tengo in 2007 when they first played Warehouse Live. Times New Viking were also on hand for that show, which is where I discovered them as well. YLT performed one of the best sets of music I saw that year, leaning heavily on their latest album at the time I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass. This go-around, the New Jersey trio were here in support of their 12th studio effort, Popular Songs, a much quieter affair than I Am Not Afraid Of You. While I was glad to finally hear the new songs performed live, specifically "Periodically Double Or Triple," the performance found itself following a similar path as their latest album.

After the first few songs, the set fell into somewhat of a rut with their mellower material taking over. I've seen the band several times, and love their occasional soiree's into the world of chill, but it's YLT's experimental rockers and spry pop gems that truly do it for me. This show was lacking in both categories. Depending on where you stood that night, the sound was completely different, and as I'm pretty mobile during shows, I tend to stand in several different spots throughout the set. When I move, I expect the sound to stay as good as it was where I had just left, but for some reason this night, the sound seemed to be quite off several places around the Ballroom. A lot of that had to do with the continuing problem of Houston's knack for talking loudly during the most inopportune times at shows. I'm not sure if Houston's concert attendees just have extremely short attention spans or what, but if you want to talk, go outside already!

There were a few exceptions that night from Yo La Tengo, though – a handful of brilliant moments that made me walk away with even more respect for the aging indie rockers. The first stand-out moment of the evening for me was when I first walked into the venue, Ira and Georgia were planted at the merch booth with nobody talking to them – I immediately went up and offered my gratitude for their services. Musically, there was some hotness as well. "Stockholm Syndrome" was great to hear, and the highly-requested-all-night-by-some-annoying-guy "Sugarcube" was a highlight as well. My favorite performance of the night was the fuzzed-out churner "Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind" which served as the closing song of the set.

Although the set was not the most inspired one, it was more than made up for during the encore. After a quick Kinks cover, they invited up their friends in Times New Viking for a jam session on the Alternative TV song "Action Time Vision." This was definitely one of the most energetic moments of the night, and although the show was almost over, it felt like the band was just finally starting to wake up. A few more covers and a show closing "Alyda" kept the crowd around and bobbing their heads until the very end. They said their goodbyes and advertised that Houston's own The Allen Oldies Band were about to get down in the Studio. If only the crowd knew that advertisement might have been a sign to stay. I heard through texts and tweets later that night that both Times New Viking and Yo La Tengo joined the cover band for versions of The Troggs' "Gloria," Tommy Roe's "Sweet Pea" and Chuck Berry's "Maybellene." That was probably the best music they played all night, and I missed it. Damn.

I've seen Yo La Tengo four times now, and this was by far my least favorite of the bunch. I'm still a huge fan of the band, and will continue to support them, but something was just a wee bit off about this show. I know that my next Yo La Tengo experience will be different, as they all are, but hopefully it will be one with a bit more inspiration.

Check out the rest of my shots from the show...

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