November 9th, 2021 Q11

 Hiya,

Day 11 today.  Got notice my Covid test was today, but misread it and it is gonna be on day 13.  Had all my good clothes laid out as it was gonna be the only time we are let out of the room.

The rest of today is about the run of 5 Yo La Tengo shows.  Don't blame you if you FF to next time.

Left off yesterday's RnR recap at the end of the run.  Early into the Seattle time for us, we made plane reservations to come back to Taiwan.  Betty bumped hers back from August to September, and mine was set for the first couple of days in October.  Sometime in June, got an alert that my beloved Yo La Tengo were playing shows in the PNW (October 18-20).  Didn't even have to make a peep to the Boss for her to change my flight to accommodate those.  Parents weekend at UVA was the weekend of October 23rd, so that was my excuse to the folks expecting me back in Taiwan to delay the return.  Of course being with the kids was super important, but also...well you know me enough.  Later in September, they booked two other shows in SF , and you know I was not gonna miss them.

This will not be an exhaustive review of the 5 show run cause I've done this recap many many times over the years and how many different ways can I preach the good word?

The SF shows were at The Chapel where their last couple of runs had been, so we know where to eat beforehand and where the best sound is in the club.  A treat prior to a show there is grabbing a Filipino burrito at Senor Sisig.  Should also mention that my brother-in-law is a convert and will go with me to all the nights.  When I told him about the shows in September, he was reluctant as he hadn't been to a show since the before times and it was Delta season, but he came around.  Fly down on a Monday afternoon, shows Mon/Tue nights, and back on a plane Wednesday morning.  Flight was a ridiculous $49 each way...

Night one, great.  Solid setlist.  The new move Mr. Kaplan did this night that I noted was using his guitar as a back scratcher during one of the noisy parts.

Night two, great.  Solid setlist..  The weird thing about this night was the crowd mix.  Around us were a bunch of Asian ladies, age appropriate.  In our little pod were 6 of them (all along with white boys), but they were totally into it.  Am sure I have seen Asian ladies at these shows before, it was most unusualy.

The new phone I got for our US number has a crappy camera and so didn't waste much time trying to get good ones...I have enough of those already.  Their tour this run was just them, a quiet set and then a louder one.  They would all start at 8:15, then they take a 15 minute break and play till 10:55.  Two and a half hours is a nice return on ones investment.  To complete this part of the run, we popped by the American-Italian Deli in Los Altos and I grabbed a meatball sandwich (double meatballs) for the flight home.

The next two shows were the following Mon/Tue in Portland.  A couple of Seattle types were gonna road trip down, but they were unable to join, so it was a solo ride.  My Portland concert wife (Malibu) only commits to night two, something about having to work...lame, so night one was the only one I attended alone.  

Night three...great.  Solid setlist

I think Yo La Tengo love to play Portland as they have a ton of friends there.  On this night, Scott McCaughey (REM/Young Fresh Fellows/Minus 5, etc.) and Janet Weiss (Quasi/Sleater-Kinney) joined for a rollicking encore.  The joy on all the faces during these parts of their show is evident.

Night 4...mind melting.  Setlist scratched a couple of those hard to reach places.  The second set was one of those that found them in a mood to make all the noise.  You go multiple nights in hopes of catching fire and this was the night. 

They do this version of the Beach Boys 'Little Honda' where they all bang the shit out of every instrument at their disposal.  Boom

The guest tonight was Steven Hunking from Hypnolovewheel and they played my favorite song from that band called Bridget Because.  There is a line in it that goes, 'She keeps her stereo on the floor and her records on the shelf'.  If you have to ask...

I decided to not drink this night and make the 3hr drive back to Seattle.  I'm already pumped from the show, maybe a little extra cause it was sooooo good, but traffic is light and I can sleep in and relax more as there is another show that next evening.  I dropped off Malibu, grabbed a giant coffee from Mickey D's, and pointed the car north on the 5.  Turned on the cruise control at the Oregon/Washington border and did not have to turn it off till I hit the offramp to our place in Seattle.  

Night 5...great.  Solid setlist.  The show was supposed to be at the new Crocodile but it still wasn't ready, so got moved to The Neptune.  

That is fine by me as it has a nice orchestra pit that is roomy and the sound is quite good.  THe crowds at these shows are usually the same...a bunch of guys my age with some ladies and a few (very cool with exquisite taste) 20 somethings.  At this Seattle show, in our little corner of the world, it was full of the 20-smoethings.  My friends this night and I are chatting between sets and they are asking me how many times I've seen them (at least 70 that I can document) and then offer that my first ticket stub was from 1991.  The young fella next to us says he's sorry to eavesdrop, but says he wasn't born in 1991 and what was the band like in those days.  Exactly the same...noisey, quiet, playing almost the exact same sized venues, and completely endearing.  

They have a song called Ohm that is a staple in their shows. They do a nice version in the quiet set, or will lay on the feedback for the loud one.  A move they have been doing for a few years during this song is that Ira will start with a guitar that isn't one of his prized possessions, and when it gets to the feedback part, will hand the guitar into the audience for them/us to hammer on for a bit.  I've done a fair bit of hammering so kinda stand back and let others get to have some fun.  One night in Japan I did that, yet it found its way to me and I got dogpiled, which was fun.  Another memorable night when they did this was in Los Angeles and as soon as he handed it into the crowd, the guitar crowd surfed to the back and disappeared out the back door (it was ultimately recovered).  But with covid, I guess they didn't feel this was an appropriate move, so at the noisey part, he gets a facemask out of his pocket and jumps into the well between the stage and crowd and let's the fans take a whack at it like that.  What a showman

Yo La Tengo have never disappointed, and what relationship have you had for 30 years where you can say that?  I am sure that list is short.  Anyhoo...my ultimate pilgrimage, the thing I have wanted to do for decades now, is to see them for their 8 nights of Hanukkah.  2022 is from December 18-26, so X-mas in NYC is looking really possible.  Until next time my friends.