WERS 88.9 fm - Performance Wrap-Up: Sonice Youth

December 1st, 2009

"It's Sonic Youth. Whatever they're going to serve, I'm down to see," said longtime fan Fred Montiel. These feelings were shared by most of their followers that night—old school and new school.

As a result of their long time fame, The Wilbur Theatre held two shows in two nights—back to back. This was a smart move, to say the least. According to security, both shows were completely sold out, but who would've expected anything less from a band with such a heavy cult following?

Bassist/vocalist Kim Gordon started the show off with "Trickster," a track from their 2009 release, The Eternal. The gang was obviously shoving this new album down the crowd's eager throats. Of a seventeen song set list, only six tracks from their 80's releases made the cut—concluding the show with "White Cross," a number from their 1987's  Sister.

Perhaps this accounted for the shockingly still crowd that evening. Yes, they were enjoying the show, but did the mayhem that one would expect to ensue at a Sonic Youth concert actually go down? Not at all. Audience members bobbed their heads front to back and shouts of appreciation for the new, mostly unrecognizable tunes followed the conclusion of each song played.

The members of Sonic Youth proved to be highly capable multi-instrumentalists. There was front man Thurston Moore on guitar and vocals, Lee Ranaldo also on guitar and vocals, Mark Ibold on bass, Steve Shelley on drums, and the strong and sexy Gordon on vocals, bass, and guitar.

For as powerful of a stage presence as she displayed, Gordon wasn't the only one engaging the crowd that night. At one point Moore sunk the neck of his guitar into the crowd letting them do whatever they pleased with it—what came of this recklessly awesome gesture was the do-it- yourself, noise rock that Sonic Youth has all but coined. They were less concerned with the lyrical quality and more concerned with experimental action.

The guys—and gal—took the stage at about 9:45 that night, and as 11:15 approached the quintet disappeared. Their exit didn't last long. Gordon and the gang nonchalantly strutted back out no more than five minutes later to play an unorthodox four song encore. This is when Sonic Youth hit us with the old stuff.

They finished their performance with 1988's, "Hey Joni," 1986's, "Tom Violence," 2009's "What We Know," and 1987's, "White Cross." The songs that Sonic Youth dug up were the songs that their long time fans ate up.

Toward the finale, Ranaldo lazily fell onto the crowd. With guitar in hand, he let his fans play with both him and his instrument until they gently got him back on stage. He proceeded to sloppily drop his guitar before the members of Sonic Youth left the show for good.

Sure, about 90% of the music they blared that night came from their latest album, and sure about 90% of the people in the crowd weren't even born when Sonic Youth started out—but they managed to keep those in attendance in a grateful trance for hours. They rocked through the 80's, blew up even harder in the 90's, and still serve up stellar shows twenty-eight years later—Amen to that!

-By Jacquelin Voegtlin