Sonic Youth Daydream Nation at The Metro
It’s 20 years since Daydream Nation but when we walked in the doors of the Metro, it was like some kind of Star Trek shit. We were beamed into a time warp. It was classic Sonic Youth. Kim Gordon out front- slutty red dress, bleached blonde hair, sexy pout. Thurston Moore- shaggy hair, blue jeans, baggy shirt, beaten up trainers, the 50 year old eternal gangly teenager. Lee Ronaldo solid as a rock, oozing maturity and style and Steve Shelley keeping it all together behind the drum kit.
Converse sneakers, tatty jeans and band t-shirts were ubiquitous in the aficionado crowd who nodded knowingly throughout the set. The bar staff stood around with nothing to do as the audience were too absorbed to walk to the bar.
Sonic Youth walked out and launched straight into Teenage Riot, the first song on Daydream nation. They played through all the tracks on the album with no breaks or stage banter. Apart from the instantly likable Teenage Riot, a standout track was The Sprawl with Kim Gordon repeatedly growling “come on down to the store you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more” while the band cut loose with feedback drenched guitar parts.
Although it was never going to be note perfect considering some of the sounds on Daydream Nation included a piano solo recorded on a walkman, an amp overheating and a series of overdubbed phone messages, Sonic Youth recreated the soundscapes on the album superbly. Moore and Ronaldo spent much of the set waving their guitars around their amps to create the right amount of feedback and sometimes sliding and banging their strings with drumsticks.
Converse sneakers, tatty jeans and band t-shirts were ubiquitous in the aficionado crowd who nodded knowingly throughout the set. The bar staff stood around with nothing to do as the audience were too absorbed to walk to the bar.Sonic Youth walked out and launched straight into Teenage Riot, the first song on Daydream nation. They played through all the tracks on the album with no breaks or stage banter. Apart from the instantly likable Teenage Riot, a standout track was The Sprawl with Kim Gordon repeatedly growling “come on down to the store you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more” while the band cut loose with feedback drenched guitar parts.
Although it was never going to be note perfect considering some of the sounds on Daydream Nation included a piano solo recorded on a walkman, an amp overheating and a series of overdubbed phone messages, Sonic Youth recreated the soundscapes on the album superbly. Moore and Ronaldo spent much of the set waving their guitars around their amps to create the right amount of feedback and sometimes sliding and banging their strings with drumsticks.
The epic, 15 minute Trilogy at the end of the set finished all too soon, leaving the crowd wishing that Daydream Nation had been made a little longer. Thankfully, Sonic Youth came back for a high energy encore which peaked with Kool Thing from 1990 album Goo. The crowd were so into it that they demanded a second encore and Sonic Youth responded with some of their newer songs.
As we all squeezed out of the metro you could overhear the trainspotters discussing alternate guitar tunings, amplifier settings and pedal effects. The rest of us were happy to have entered the Sonic Youth time machine and relived a seminal part of musical history.
As we all squeezed out of the metro you could overhear the trainspotters discussing alternate guitar tunings, amplifier settings and pedal effects. The rest of us were happy to have entered the Sonic Youth time machine and relived a seminal part of musical history.
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