Pitchfork

Photos by Stephen Lindley

On a cold night in Atlanta-- but not a "hat cold" night, according to Ira Kaplan-- Hoboken, New Jersey's Yo La Tengo beat some serious Ass before a packed house. Tickets to see the indie legends were going for as much as $75 outside-- a fair price, perhaps: with an over two hour long set, complete with three encores, the band never seemed to tire.

Through the course of the evening the attended learned that James McNew "hates poetry" and heard covers of the Velvet Underground's "I Heard Her Call My Name" and Sun Ra's "Somebody's in Love." In addition to several songs off latest LP I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (Matador), YLT rocked several fan favorites, including "Sugarcube", "Stockholm Syndrome", and "Autumn Sweater" off 1997's I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One. Even though, as Kaplan claimed, Variety Playhouse is only YLT's second favorite Atlanta venue-- the Masquerade, where they were infamously billed as Yo La Tango, is number one-- the band did not disappoint the sell-out crowd, who were still clamoring for more well past midnight.

Yo La Tengo wrap up their U.S. tour this week, then ship off to Japan and Australia.














Yo:

02-05 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle *
02-06 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle #
02-08 Charlottesville, VA - Starr Hill Music Hall #
02-09 Baltimore, MD - Sonar #
02-10 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero #
02-19 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya O-East
02-20 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya O-East
02-22 Nagoya, Japan - Nagoya Club Quattro
02-23 Osaka, Japan - Big Cat
02-24 Fukuoka, Japan - Drum Be-1
02-27 Perth, Australia - Amplifier Bar ^
03-01 Sydney, Australia - Metro %
03-03 Brisbane, Australia - Laneway Festival
03-04 Sydney, Australia - Laneway Festival
03-06 Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel %
03-08 Adelaide, Australia - Fowlers Live $
03-10 Meredith, Australia - Golden Plains Festival
03-12 Singapore, Singapore - Concert Hall at Esplanade Theatres on the Bay (Mosaic Music Festival)

* with Portastatic
# with the Rosebuds
^ with New Rules for Boats
% with David Kilgour
$ with Clue to Kalo