The inclusion of Yo La Tengo in this year’s Melbourne Festival came as welcome news to any fans who’ve admired the New Jersey band across their 13 original albums, three covers collections and almost 30-year career.
Archetypical critical favourites, the trio have long epitomised a certain American indie rock ethos – one that values capital-m Music and music history over image or popularity.
Married duo Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley and bassist James McNew have amassed an incredibly diverse catalogue of songs. Equally at home with raucous rock and sedate folk, they’re just as likely to surprise listeners with dreamy keyboard pop or leftfield psych and krautrock.
This year’s excellent Fade forms the backbone of their An Audience With Yo La Tengo show tonight, but it’s which other songs they’ll pick to give a concert hall treatment that really piques curiosity.
For a band used to Jersey bars and sticky-carpeted rock venues, the cavernous Hamer Hall presents some interesting questions. When you’ve got acoustics designed for orchestras and a captive, seated audience, what kind of a show do you do?
As the noticeably 30-plus audience heed the warning tones piped throughout the ostentatious Hamer Hall foyer, only a few minutes precede the appearance of the endearingly rumpled trio.
Good-humoured but low-key, the seated Kaplan and Hubley look like roadies from a Happy Mondays tour circa ’92 in their baggy striped t-shirts. Joined by the lofty McNew, they swiftly begin the acoustic first half of their set with the gently undulating ‘Ohm’ and the Casio beat-carried ‘Two Trains’, both from Fade.
Before the audience gets too settled into their seats by the gentle vibe, Kaplan switches between guitar and keyboards for the quirky faux-R&B of ‘Periodically Double Or Triple’ from 2009’s Popular Songs.
The trio then completely switch instruments, McNew taking a rare vocal spot with the lovely ‘Black Flowers’ from 2006’s wonderfully-titled I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass.
At this point it feels like we’re beginning a smooth journey back through the quieter moments of Yo La Tengo’s history. That is, until Kaplan introduces the next three songs as all from Fade.
A heart-stoppingly lovely ‘Cornelia & Jane’ by the sweet-voiced Hubley precedes ‘The Point Of It’ and ‘I’ll Be Around’, suggesting in all three instances that Fade is as good as anything YLT produced in the ‘90s.
The trio look comfortable under the auditorium lights, skilled at capturing the delicate moments in their repertoire and happy to present them in an ideal setting (free from bar noise and the chatter that results when a bunch of holier-than-thou indie fans get in a room together.)
Kaplan explains that they have a couple more songs before a break and the stage is reset for “some rocking”. They then launch into their first obligatory cover of the evening, a mild version of late-period Kinks tune ‘Better Things’.
While covers are definitely part of the YLT package, the following acoustic version of ‘Big Day Coming’ is more what we’re here for. The originally Kaplan-fronted, wall-of-sound rocker from ’93 is stripped back to its fireplace folk roots, Hubley breathing lyrics of once-youthful anticipation: “I woke up early, couldn’t go back to sleep … I had been thinking of where it all would lead”.
After an incongruously civilised 15-minute intermission, Yo La Tengo return in rock mode. No more seated, finger-picked acoustic guitar – this set is louder and more abrasive from the outset, Kaplan letting loose some fret-wankery via Fade’s ‘Stupid Things’.
Another recent track comes in the form of lazy earworm ‘Is That Enough?’ before Kaplan attacks his keyboard in a flurry of grungy organ. This clears the palate for the soothing motorik rhythm of ‘Little Eyes’ from 2003’s Summer Sun and the addictive white-soul sounds of ‘Mr Tough’ – featuring dual falsetto from Kaplan and McNew.
‘Before We Run’ sees Kaplan stretch out again on guitar, and it’s probably at this point that non-hardcore fans start to shift in their seats. Luckily the wonderful, straight-up indie rock classic ‘Sugarcube’ is next, marking the band’s only dip into arguably their best album, 1997’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One.
Another tonal shift takes the audience to the semi-shoegaze drones of ‘93’s ‘From A Motel 6’, then snaps back to the present with another, now lead break-filled rendition of ‘Ohm’. While it’s appreciated and displays the dynamic way they approach their music, it feels like some great songs are being overlooked while Kaplan indulges his inner shredder.
Second-set-closer ‘Blue Line Swinger’ from 1995 album Electr-O-Pura reinforces this. It’s a feedback-garlanded, slow-building, jammy epic that drags the gig to the 2.5-hour mark and sees a small percentage of the audience deciding that they’ve had enough.
It’s the kind of tune that demands the chance to walk to the back of the band room for a drink and a discussion on the merits of improv – but not in this environment. We sit politely and watch as Kaplan wrings endless notes from his punished guitar, waved like a flag for extra feedback squeals.
When the track finally winds down and the trio wave farewell, much of the audience takes the chance to get the blood flowing by standing and applauding. The response brings the good-humoured Jerseyites back for a final triplet of ‘60s covers.
The Velvet Underground’s ‘I Heard Her Call My Name’ is given a raw, almost Neil Young-ian roughness, while the Brian Wilson-penned Beach Boys number ‘Farmer’s Daughter’ swings us back to pop territory.
Hubley again takes centre stage for the warm-spirited closer, a cute rendition of Anita Bryant’s Disney-esque ‘My Little Corner Of The World.’ It leaves a smile on the face of every fan in the audience, allowing them to forget for a moment that omissions that would have made the gig truly special.
There’s no doubt that Yo La Tengo, for all their regular joe stylings, are truly extraordinary musicians and songwriters. Performing at Melbourne Festival in an incredible venue could have seen them prepare a set of legacy-defining songs.
Unfortunately, the absence of tracks like ‘You Can Have It All’, ‘Autumn Sweater’, ‘Tears Are In Your Eyes’ and ‘Season Of The Shark’ undermined the definitive nature of the set, making it feel at times like an extended album-promoting tour show with some built-in wiggle room for musical indulgence.
On the flip side, the quality of their output means they’ve earned the right to do whatever they like. If someone wants to give them they keys to Hamer Hall, who are we to expect our dream Yo La Tengo set? We should simply be thankful someone flew them here from Hoboken in the first place.
