Saturday (12/4) was the seventh night of Hanukkah and the seventh show in Yo La Tengo's annual residency at Bowery Ballroom. For it, they got Joshua Abrams' hypnotic, minimalist ensemble Natural Information Society to open the night, and they joined Yo La Tengo for four songs during their set: opener "Green Arrow," and then "Swing for Life," "The Last Days of Disco," and "The Room Got Heavy" later in the set.
Yo La Tengo's Night 7 set also included "Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House," "Mr Tough," "False Alarm," "Upside Down," and more, including covers of The Velvet Underground's "I Can't Stand It" and Angry Samoans' "Too Animalistic," and they ended with "Blue Line Swinger."
For the encore, they covered Bob Dylan's "I Threw it All Away," and then The Mekons' Jon Langford & Sally Timms -- who had played Queens club TV Eye earlier in the day -- came out to cover Ramones' "I Don't Care," and perform Mekons songs "Dan Dare – Out of Space (It’s A Really Nice Place)" and "Keep on Hoppin'." Check out the full Night 7 setlist via Jesse Jarnow's Frank & Earthy blog below.
Hari Kondabolu was Saturday's comedian, drummer Georgia Hubley made the Night 7 mix CD, and the whole night benefitted the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Photos from the whole night by Ellen Qbertplaya are in this post.
You can check out recaps of their previous Hanukkah shows here. Tonight's the final night of Hanukkah 2021. Who do you think will be the surprise guests, apart from Ira's mom?
SETLIST: Yo La Tengo @ Bowery Ballroom 12/4/2021 (Hanukkah Night 7)
Green Arrow (with Natural Information Society)
I Can’t Stand It (Velvet Underground)
Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House
Mr. Tough
Did I Tell You
Is That Enough
Swing For Life (with Natural Information Society)
The Last Days of Disco (with Natural Information Society)
The Room Got Heavy (with Natural Information Society)
False Alarm
Too Animalistic (Angry Samoans) (with Dutch Worthington)
Drug Test
Upside Down
We’re An American Band
Blue Ling Swinger
*(encore)*
I Threw It All Away (Bob Dylan)
I Don’t Care (The Ramones) (with Jon Langford & Sally Timms)
Dan Dare – Out of Space (It’s A Really Nice Place) (The Mekons) (with JL & ST)
Keep on Hoppin’ (The Mekons) (with JL & ST)
Dan Dare – Out of Space (It’s A Really Nice Place) (The Mekons) [take 2] (with JL & ST)