That was freaking awesome. I love the lighting too.

all these posts about the shows are getting me so excited. thanks for sharing. dv69! its been awhile.

I can't wait until tomorrow!

As per DV 69. For me it was just hearing the song live. Because the studio tracks are old and somewhat dubious to begin with the live performance brought the song back to life....

It would be interesting to hear freshly revisited/remixed/remastered tracks from the DV/Evol era.

Though that would probably cause fan infighting and tears

Man, I need to stop reading other setlists for bands I've seen recently - now I feel gypped by both Neil Young & SY after seeing what they've played since Primavera a few weeks back - I would've fucking exploded if they'd pulled out DV 69 then ;)

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest it may have been "Antenna". That's probably my favourite song on the new record and it's certainly melodic. But I love the part before the verse starts where all the guitars are strumming those awesome chords!...

Oh, and I was in the front row and the vocals were definitely low from down there, too. It would have been nice to hear them a bit more but it didn't bug me or anything...

Peace.

sooo jealous. my favorite sy song. damn i was at the royal oak show i should've gone to toronto as well!!

and that's a great pic w/ lee!

But on the FIB'98 show they (all of 3) sing DV'69...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygIELGqX2dk

(hehehe, i was there...)

Thanks for the setlist. It was an amazing concert!!!!

can anyone confirm this setlist? i could have sworn there were one or two more songs.

I was updating it on my phone as they were playin em.
This is the full setlist.

I can confirm! i managed to score a setlist, despite probably being one of the shortest people there, i was pretty thrilled about it!

Ok, the concert: absolutely mindblowing! I was a little skeptical of the seated venue of Massey Hall, but we ended standing the whole time anyways and the sound was amazing! I was infront of Lee in the 3rd row. I can see why people thought the vocals may have been a bit low if you were in the back, but i was in the 3rd row and they sounded perfect to me (not too high, the guitars are most important for SY anyways).

The setlist was very good too! i do wish they had played a couple more oldies and a little less eternal (the whole album is probably not necessary). I was hoping to hear my absolute favourites (Cross the breeze/Hey Joni) but i will probably never see Death Valley 69 live again so i'm perfectly ok with it. DV69 was by far the highlight of the night. I actually had no idea what they were playing for about 10 seconds- i was so caught off guard and was NOT expecting it at all, it was great and i completely lost my shit. Other highlights were Massage, No way, Malibu gas station, tom violence. She is not alone was also absolutely amazing, a fantastic way to open and i love how they make it sound so different everytime they play it. I saw Kim put on the thunderbird first and was just thinking "SHIT, we are in for something special here"

Another thing i really loved was the variety of the crowd at this show in particular. There were young, old, REALLY old, almost equal genders, people in band shirts, people in gothic clothes, people in Abercrombie. This guy with the biggest hair ever was infront of us just jammin away with an oldie standing beside him in disbelief-it was awesome, props to that guy. It's amazing the range of people that Sonic Youth touches.

I have more pictures too. They're on my facebook though, i dont feel like uploading them again to Flickr or something, but feel free to look (i am not the best photographer, but theres some cool shots).
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...0&l=c34346bf5f

One of the best nights of my life- i really do hope they tour again!

oh shit!

awesome setlist!

dv69, thunderclap, she is not alone, pch!

hope there are recordings of that songs.

That's EXACTLY what happened with me. I also seriously lost my fucking shit.

it was an amazing moment.

Just got back home from my trip to Toronto and I have to say it was an amazing show (as usual)! I will share audio, video and my girlfriend's photos of the show as soon as I get organized and transfer everything. I can't wait for Virgin Fest in Vancouver!..

Super pissed I missed this show

I'm not talking about the chorus, which they've always sung as a group, but the back-and-forth between Thurston and Lydia which, up until now, has always just been sung by Thurston as a single vocal since '85.

I disagree. The way it seems to work, if you don't catch the current albums' tracks on the tour, you're unlikely to hear a single one of them again for 15 years. So I wanna hear ALL the songs from the new album. A few obscure oldies, and some "classic" faves for an encore makes it perfect.

I fully concur with what Lee is attributed to have said (below - see review excerpt). If SY played too many oldies, I would've probably given up seeing them every tour over a decade ago, and only attended once-in-a-while. I understand that others may feel differently, but as their live song-selection policy has stood for the past 20 years, I for one am guaranteed to return for every tour, because every tour set is *completely* different from ALL the other tours that preceeded it.

From today's (mostly positive) review in the National Post:

It was a great show and I really enjoyed it.

I was up in the gallery and agree that the vocals were very muddled throughout the show. Guitars and drums sounded great. It's been a while since I've been to an SY show, and I was once again enthralled with Steve's drumming, Lee's guitar playing, Thurston's ability to hump a string instrument!! And of course everything that is Kim Gordon. I love her.

The sound, during the encores, seemed to falter though. To give you an example, from where I was seated, it took me a while to realize they were playing Death Valley 69 - the sound was so muddled...at first I thought it was Kool Thing........yeah, I know. I felt stupid.

I'll edit to add that I would rather go to Massey Hall then the Kool Hause....anyday.

But I loves me some Sonic Youth and loved hearing the new record.

I definitely wont allow as much time to pass for my next SY concert.

gotta hear this. I remember them doing it in the Olympia in '98 but can't remember how Kim sounded doing Lydia's parts.

I was sitting right behind the guy who shot that video. He shot the whole show with his camera on the balcony rail, except for one song (the one with acoustic guitar off the new album. That was the song where Kim said they were going to play a Neil Young song but didn't. I'm guessing Kim said that because there is a live Neil Young CD from Massey Hall in the 70's.) He told me he would have his videos on youtube today and sure enough, they are. I tried to bribe him with $20 for his front row balcony seat so I could have a clear shot for videotaping but he wouldn't budge (I don't blame him). I ended up having a great shot anyways from the 2nd row.

I also saw "Death Valley 69" at my 1st Sonic Youth concert in Calgary in 1991, when they opened up for Neil Young. My friend recorded that show on a dictaphone and one of these days I am going to transfer his tape digitally and share it.

I thought they might have played "Death Valley 69" because some dude yelled out "Death Valley 69, motherfuckers!" really loudly in between songs once when it was quiet, but now I see that it was on the setlist after all thanks to the photo by eternal (thanks a lot!).

When I was picking up my tickets at the box office I started talking to the guy next to me, and it turns out I had met him at the 2002 Vancouver show at the Vogue Theatre, where he was videotaping the show in the row in front of me. I got his email so I'm hoping that I can get my hands on that video someday!

One strange thing I noticed about the concert last night is that not a single person was smoking pot which is pretty damn unusual for a rock concert, especially in Canada!

Also, I noticed a bunch of empty seats in the 3rd level which surprised me, considering the tickets up there weren't that expensive ($35 Canadian). I'm not complaining though. If most people in the world actually liked good music than I would have had to see Sonic Youth in a hockey rink or stadium instead of an intimate venue.

Hard to get pot in Massey Hall. That place, if I remember, was no smoking even before the smoking ban... so I'd have been SHOCKED if someone had braved the fine and the expulsion (harder to hide in a venue like that) - I DID smell some outside beforehand, though, so it was ingested - just not during the set... hehe

Seriously! I had 3 empty seats beside me, what's up with people?



Amazing show. 2 Encores? Brilliant. Death Valley 69' and The Sprawl made my night. New stuff is great as well. I heard some people complaining about "too much new stuff" after the show...Pfff. Thurston's hands are the size of basketballs.

I don't mean to complain about "too much new stuff" but considering it was my first SY concert, as much as I like the new album (and I do QUITE a bit) I can't help but be a bit disappointed since I didn't even hear a single song off my favourite SY album and just knew to expect everything off the new album after awhile without really getting any excitement or shock until the end. Everything was great otherwise but the set had me really let down because of that. DV69 couldn't even save it...

No problem for the setlist, i felt i had an obligation being on the board ahaha. and i just smoked before the show since i felt there would be like 25 security people up in my business so fast if i brought anything in that place. i love the sound and architecture but come on, let me find my seat myself for fucks sake, i dont need you checking my ticket every 10 seconds and leading me around with your fucking flashlight!

Yr lucky you gotta go though, I was at home. haha :(. What's yr favourite album and what songs did you wanna hear?

The Massey Hall reference makes sense!

I encourage you to transfer that Calgary show, or at least provide the set list if possible. :)

As for the 'too much new material' crowd, I'll confess that at my very first SY show they played almost all 'Washing Machine' material which was almost all unfinished, and only two old songs. I was so young and excited that while I may have been mildly disappointed to not hear more familiar songs, it was so exhilirating to just SEE them.

Then the 'Thousand Leaves' era hit -- for two straight years they played nothing but new material, the first year completely instrumentally! Every show on the Thousand Leaves tour had the bulk of the album plus 2 'SYR' pieces, and 'Death Valley'. And that was it. They added 'Shadow of a Doubt' in Seattle (which blew my mind) but aside from that, every single show that year was comprised of 11 new songs and 'Death Valley'. Did it bother me at the time? Of course! I wanted to hear all my favorites! I loved 'A Thousand Leaves' (and the live versions are so much better than the album) but I won't lie, I wanted to hear 'Teenage Riot' and 'Mote' and '100%' and 'Bull in the Heather' and all the rest. It took me two years before I got my chance to become sickingly tired of all those great old songs, and now I'd probably love to hear 'Female Mechanic' again, so it's funny how things work out.

Somebody posted earlier about how you see SY tour for an album and you know it's probably your only chance to hear most of those songs, which is 100% true and pretty much why it's more exciting for people who see them tour after tour and maybe less exciting for somebody going to see their first show as a huge fan of their entire catalog. I totally relate. Regardless, the new material is what excites the band most, and that's ultimately what matters...

True.

Although as a tour wears on they do do less songs from the album. I suspect come winter they'll get rid of a few songs from the new album, and add older songs.

Understood, but that's an old rock & roll model. I don't want to get pretentious (o-kay, I can't help it), but think of art or fashion (which is also a part of rock & roll). I can understand when you see a dead artists' art show, or maybe a career retrospective, then you get some old stuff on the wall.

But if you are a contemporary artist, and you still have creative ideas and want to be relevant, you don't drag along pieces from ten-or-fifteen years ago and hang them with your new art show.

Same with fashion. If I'm going to a fashion show, I expect to see new pieces, not old ones.

If I go to see Tarantino's new "Inglourious Basterds" movie, I won't be surprised to see stylistic similarities from his old movies, but I don't expect to see him cutting recycled clips from Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill into the new one.

Not precisely the same thing, I realize, but if you step back from the old stereotypical rock & roll model-slash-cliche, that's what *most* rock bands do, and SY is not like most rock acts, they are singularly unique in style, approach, creative philosophy, and one of the reasons we old farts continue to stay with the band and go to every tour. And it's a good reason why I like the main show to be separate from the encore, and reserve the encore to treat audiences to a small nostalgia trip.

Vive le difference!!

SY are not unlike Radiohead or Lou Reed who when touring behind a new album will play every or almost every track.

I don't think the amount of new stuff was the problem. I get what they want to do, have seen them before, knew what to expect. Nonetheless, as a live event it lacked pace. It was more like listening to the new record, which I do love and really liked live. It is just a bit odd to put the audience through 11 new ones in a row and then leave stage at 10:40 with an 11:00 curfew at Massey Hall (then encore the last of the new ones). As I said, it was good, not great. One or two more at the end that kept the pace and energy of DV 69 would made it even better. I love them but am not just going to say it was the best show I have ever seen. It was hard to leave right after Death Valley. It is an awfully impressive catalogue to ignore.

I felt a little bit ripped off by this show (at least until the encore).
She Is Not Alone blew my fucking mind, the first few Eternal tracks were all, "FUCK YEAH!" until it set in that they were not doing anything else.
I paid $60, we had literally front row center seats to see Sonic Youth, and I have seen them before, so I expected a heavy amount of new material, but.. this was too much.

The encore (Tom Violence!!! The Sprawl!!! DV69!!!) was insanity, looking at Sonic Youth not even five feet in front of me, but after hearing 11 new songs that I don't know all the words to, that I paid 60 dollars for... kind of disappointing. I know seeing SY on an album tour means you're going to see a lot of the album... but what we got was not SY, it was The Eternal.

Funny, my copy of "The Eternal" says "Sonic Youth" right on it.

Oh sorry, "sonic-youth". Must be a different band.

hey, kind of a stupid question guys, but did anyone see what that pink thing was that was thrown onto the stage (near the right hand side) near the end of the show? Looked like a scarf or something but my view was kind of obscured. Thanks!

Sorry, man, I don't mean to offend anybody by that, it was just a bit of a bummer, driving 6 hours, paying 60 dollars, and seeing a half-decent show.
The set wasn't even bad, by any means. But, had they broken up the Eternal material (maybe every 3-4 songs, throw a classic in) instead of putting it all together in the middle, you know?

I had a little weirded-out moment when Thurston fucked up in Anti-Orgasm, too. But when they busted out What We Know in the encore, I blew my balls. Such a bad-ass tune.

Those were my panties. I tossed them at Thurston. I've done that at each SY show I've gone to. He's got a fucking collection at this point.

I fully understand why they'd want to play all new stuff and all. I'm not complaining about that as it makes perfect sense. My complaint can be split to two things; either a longer set would have been nice so I could hear more songs or a few less from the eternal. I don't hold it against them or anything, but it can be a bit disheartening to see a favourite band for the first time and not hear any of your favourite bar DV69.


joe, my favourite album is Washing Machine. I was hoping to maybe hear anything off that, maybe Making The Nature Scene or The Unmade Bed. I hold no fault to the band for what they did, nor was it a bad performance. It was just a little disappointing.

I hate you. That's an awesome setlist.

Ha ha! I agree Chris, I'd always found live versions of "Death Valley '69" disappointing, even when I saw them do it in 1985, because there was no Lydia. But this new three guitar, three lead vocal attack is brutal perfection. Damn, it totally stands up to the Bad Moon version. The crowd at that show must have felt like they were on the real Manson Family acid when that went down. I can't wait to see them this tour!!