Kim and the gang remain relevant.
"It takes a teenage riot to get me out of bed right now."
As album openers go, 'Teenage Riot' has always stood out as one of the definitive intial statements that layed down a marker for the album that was to follow it and is one of the many songs that fully justifies 'Daydream Nation' receiving the Don't Look Back treatment. The early quiet guitar waves and Kim Gordons hypnotic cooing quickly gives way to incendiary guitar work from Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo that sees them leaping around the stage and hovering their guitars over the crowd to emphasise the feedback
With so many instrumental passages throughout the show, it was a chance for Sonic Youth to flex their freakout muscles and they never let anyone down on this aspect. 'Daydream Nation' may have been the record that saw the band begin to reign in their wilder tendencies and create some more song-styled elements, there is still plenty of moments of left-fieldness that found its way into the night. With the chaotic nois and feedbacking loops of 'Providence' featuring, it wa still safe to assume that Sonic Youth hadnt fully went down the road of pop masterpieces.
Althought the nature of the set would ensure the main body of the show would be constant for every night of the tour, Sonic Youth were still making notes of their whereabouts and this was shown when 'Total Trash' was introduced with a nod to two Glasgow brothers. Its unlikely Thurston was dedicating this song to this reviewer and his brother so its probably safe to suggest that Jim and William Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain were the recipients of the heads up. With JAMC on the comeback trail at the moment as well, it just goes to show that its no longer compulsory for your rock n roll heroes to die at an early age, its no longer required to burn out or fade away.
The Don't Look Back Series has allowed a strong wave of nostalgia to surface and it has allowed many acts to re-enter the public arena but Sonic Youth, no matter their age and longetivity, still feel like a current concern and this was proved during the encore.
Arriving back on stage and joined by Mark Ibold, formerly of Pavement and increasing the old-school American Indie feel, Sonic Youth crashed straight into 'Incinerate' from their recent full-length album, 'Rather Ripped.' Having two bass players playing at the same time may be a bad idea for some acts but in the hands of the sonic wizards, the track is a gnarling, spitting beast that leaves the crowd in no doubt that Sonic Youth are no mere nostalgia act, they're as important today as they have ever been. On some songs of the encore, Ibald took over the solo bass players, freeing up Gordon to dance and twirl on stage like an Indie-Goddess Tasmanian Devil with 'Do You Believe In Rapture?' and 'Jams Run Free' continuing the feedbacking, ebbing beauty that the main part of the show set up.