Sonic Youth at 9:30 Club
For the first time in nearly 30 years, Sonic Youth seemed bored.
The band’s Monday night performance at 9:30 Club, the first of two sold-out D.C. shows, had its moments: blistering takes on “Antenna,” from new album The Eternal, and “Catholic Block,” from the group’s 1987 album, Sister. But, throughout the set, the band seemed unengaged—and a little bit exhausted.
Thurston Moore, usually inclined to smashing up his guitar and cracking jokes, appeared sullen and disinterested. Guitarist Lee Ranaldo blew a few clams on “Walkin Blue.” Only bassist Mark Ibold, formerly of Pavement, seemed to really enjoy himself. But, then again, Ibold hasn’t had to play songs such as “Silver Rocket” more than 100 times.
Sonic Youth, which formed in 1980, has managed to outlast not only the majority of its peers, but also a generation of bands that it helped inspire. The Eternal is Sonic Youth’s 16th record. (When Neil Young released his 16th album, he was already five years into being considered “classic rock.”) So you can’t really blame Sonic Youth for looking a tad fatigued.
Sonic Youth has remained vital, though. The group’s last three records—Murray Street, Sonic Nurse, and Rather Ripped—were as great of a winning streak as the band had seen in its career. But songs from The Eternal—a return to the skronky and noisy moves of the band’s mid-90s output—made up the bulk of Monday night’s set. So one’s enjoyment of the group's performance largely hinged on their opinion of that record, as it was largely performed note for note.
It was the older material—which went back as far as 1983’s Confusion Is Sex—that hit a little harder in the set. An extended version of Daydream Nation’s “The Sprawl” played during the second encore, and it served as a reminder of just how far ahead of its time the band was during the late ’80s—and its final, hypnotic notes were as moving as anything the band played the whole night.
Sonic Youth may be bored, but it's never boring.
