Yo La Tengo; Titus Andronicus @ McCarren Park Pool

Yo La Tengo; Titus Andronicus; Ebony Bones
@ McCarren Park Pool
Brooklyn, NY - August 24, 2008

The last ever JELLYNYC free show at the McCarren Park Pool (after 3 summers worth) featured New Jersey's legendary Yo La Tengo who weaved in and out of the short and sweet stuff like their recent classic "Hey Mr. Tough" to long, distorted jams, all the while playing a tribute to the summer time (this is a band that likes to sing about the seasons).
Titus Andronicus continues to play everywhere this summer and in the confines of the wide open pool, they sounded sloppy and amateurish except for their fantastic little ditty about themselves.
I heard Ebony Bones whilst waiting on the long line into the Pool, and they started off impressively with some thunderous drumming and bass-heavy winding works. But it very quickly seem to turn droll and weak. But that may have been because of the acoustics affected by the big walls around the Pool.

The Strange Goings On With She & Him

So at first if you had a ticket for last night's scratched show at the Hiro, you had to await announcement of a future date. Then suddenly, late in the night, it was announced that tonight's second show has been moved to Webster Hall and that this show would also be the rescheduled date for night 1. It seems generous at first but also it really plays with people's calendars (the Bowery Presents guys know it so they are providing refunds).

What stinks is that last night's opener was supposed to be the A-Bones with Ira Kaplan helping out. They won't be able to open tonight.

Yo La Tengo Opened for the A-Bones at Magnetic Field

Friday night, as part of Magnetic Field's closing week blow-out, Yo La Tengo - under the name "the Condo Fucks" (there's that word again) - opened for Brooklyn rockabilly legends (and band manifestation of the ultra excellent Norton Records company) the A-Bones. The comments section of that BV post reveal some interesting conflict going on about who got in and how.

Tonight is the last night for Magnetic Field - ever.

Artist of the Week: Yo La Tengo

It's a packed week of gigs, particularly on Friday night when Horton Heat (with Hank 3), Electric Six, VHS or Beta, and Polyphonic Spree (with Rooney) all have gigs in town. But also on that night, in the sold out dominion of the Music Hall of Williamsburg will be the Hoboken 3 known as Yo La Tengo, towering over all with their consistent 2-decade spanning motif. This is also good prep for their annual 8 nights of Chanukah concerts at Maxwell's next month.