[Photos by Liz Clayton for Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah Diary]
Following a killer opening set by The National, Yo La Tengo opened the final performance of their eight-night run of Hanukkah shows at Maxwell’s with the somnolent “Night Falls On Hoboken”, but the pace picked up from there, with the Beatles cover “Eight Days A Week”. Still, compared to the Nels Cline-influenced night 7 and the super-noisy, ear-(and Ira’s head)-bleeding night 5, the band stayed on the mellower side for the bulk of the main set, including on a beautiful “Demons” and Georgia taking over vocal duties on the Norma Tanega cover, “Walking My Cat Named Dog”. Hamish Kilgour of The Clean joined for most of the main set, including on a cover Kilgour’s band’s “Whatever I Do It’s Right”, with Kilgour on vocals. That was followed by a noisy cover of The Mad Scene’s “Sweet Dreams” (a tribute to both Kilgour, who is also in that band, and Georgia, who a frequent part of their lineup). Appropriately, the main set ended with the core trio on two of their best-loved classics, “Blue Line Swinger”, and “Our Way To Fall”.
I had my doubts as to whether there was any way to create a coda to such an incredible eight nights that would make sense and do justice to all that came before it. But, it is foolish to doubt a veteran band in their element – Yo La Tengo did exactly what they needed to do, bringing it back home with frequent contributor Bruce Bennett on guitar for the Velvet Underground‘s “I Can’t Stand It Anymore,” followed by their guitar tech Gil Divine joining the band for Randy Newman’s “We Belong Together” and the grand finale, Mel Brooks’ “Love Power”. To cap all of that off, Ira threw himself into the crowd and surfed the length of Maxwell’s as everyone howled with approval. After eight nights of obscure, classic and famous special guests, outstanding comedy, and Yo La Tengo performances that would never be forgotten, there was nothing more to say, play or do. Yo La Tengo relinquished the stage triumphant. And once again, night fell on Hoboken.
nyctaper recorded the set with the Neumann microphones and a soundboard feed, while I used a combination of DPA and Schoeps mics set up from the same position. We are offering both of these outstanding recordings for download here. As you would expect, the audience recording is warmer and provides more feel of the room, while the Neumann/soundboard recording provides exceptional clarity and detail. Samples of both are included. All tracks are tagged for easy importing into iTunes. Enjoy!
Stream the nyctaper version of “Deeper Into Movies”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/YLT-DeeperIntoMovies2010-12-08.mp3]
Stream the acidjack version of “Eight Days A Week”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/Y6644YLT9879/YLT-EightDaysAWeek2010-12-08.mp3]
Direct download of the nyctaper MP3 files [HERE]
Direct download of the acidjack MP3 files [HERE]
Download the Complete show in FLAC [nyctaper version] / [acidjack version]
Yo La Tengo
2010-12-08
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA
Recorded and Produced exclusively for nyctaper.com by
nyctaper and acidjack
2010-12-27
NYCTaper Version
Digital Master Recording
Four Channel Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:52:05]
01 Night Falls On Hoboken
02 Eight Days A Week [Beatles]
03 [banter]
04 Madeleine
05 Mr. Tough
06 Gentle Hour [Snapper]
07 Tired Hippo
08 Demons
09 [banter2]
10 Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog [Norma Tanega]
11 Whatever I Do It’s Right [The Clean]
12 [banter3]
13 Sweet Dreams [Mad Scene]
14 Sudden Organ
15 Deeper Into Movies
16 Nothing To Hide
17 Blue Line Swinger
18 Our Way To Fall
19 [encore break]
20 I Can’t Stand It Anymore [Velvet Underground]
21 [banter4]
22 We Belong Together [Randy Newman]
23 Love Power [Mel Brooks]
acidjack version
Equipment: DPA 4021+Schoeps CMC6/mk41>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: LOC, at soundboard, mics at 7.5′, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, smooth peaks and claps, light EQ, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks
01 Night Falls On Hoboken
02 Eight Days A Week [The Beatles]
03 banter
04 Madeleine
05 Mr. Tough
06 banter
07 Gentle Hour [Snapper]
08 Tired Hippo
09 Demons
10 banter
11 Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog [Norma Tanega]
12 Whatever I Do It’s Right [The Clean]
13 Sweet Dreams [The Mad Scene]
14 Sudden Organ
15 Deeper Into Movies
16 Nothing To Hide
17 Blue Line Swinger
18 Our Way To Fall
19 encore break
20 I Can’t Stand It Anymore [Velvet Underground] (with Bruce Bennett on guitar)
21 banter
22 We Belong Together [Randy Newman]
23 Love Power [Mel Brooks] (with Gil Divine on guitar)
If you download these recordings from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, visit their MySpace page, and purchase their official releases from the store at their website [HERE].
Wow, what a setlist! (Deeper Into Movies, yes!) Thanks!
Thanks a lot for these YLT live shows!