LIVE :::: Sonic Youth [at] Scala, Kings Cross 27/04/09

A thousand lucky people managed to beg, borrow and steal tickets to tonights sold out show at the Scala in Kings Cross. It was a rare intimate occasion to see a band of such monumental proportions.

I think it was fair to say, the start of tonights set caught most people completely off guard. The drone of 'She is not Alone,' a song from the bands infancy, was a curious choice to begin with, on account of its slow rythmic pace and monotonic melody. It was appreciated nonetheless, but the room really started to ignite when the pounding drums erupt underneath the opening harmonics to 'bull in the heather'.

The irony of the band's name has been well pointed out before, with Kim Gordon for one being 56 years 'young' but any petty ridicule was soon rendered obselete. This is a group of people who are still effortlessly cool, and unrelenting in their passion to perform. It's fantastic to see, Lee Ranaldo's silver barnet aside, the band looking like I would have imagined them in 1989. 'The Sprawl' and 'Cross the Breeze' from the epic 'Daydream Nation,' are delivered with such ferocity that unlike so many bands who resist hiatus, you don't wish you could buy that time machine to go back twenty years.
2009 sees the release of yet another album 'The Eternal' and the new songs played tonight fitted in well, it certainly doesnt feel like they've got any intention of resting on their laurels soon. The new seemed a logical progression from the much acclaimed 'Rather Ripped' of three years previous, maintaining a feel of strong melodic importance overlaid with the trademark SY frantic mess of noise, although never felt to be simply covering old ground.

Two encores followed. Ending with the defiant 'Kool Thing' was sublime, although my personal favorite of the set was 'Schizophrenia'.

Set List
She Is Not Alone
Bull In The Heather
No Way
Calming The Snake
Hey Joni
Tom Violence
Sacred Trickster
Antenna
Making The Nature Scene
Schizophrenia
What We Know
The Sprawl
Cross The Breeze
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The World Looks Red
Brother James
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Kool Thing