McCarren Park Pool: Sonic Youth

So, I've been a bit reluctant to write this post since I know I'm probably not in the majority on this one. But, last Saturday night I went with a group of friends to see Sonic Youth at McPP. I had initially planned to attend this show with the BF, since he's the one that is actually the Sonic Youth fan: once it was announced that they were playing their seminal album Daydream Nation front to back to celebrate 20 years since it's release, I rushed right out and scored some tix to surprise him. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was already booked that weekend to hang with his guys in the woods upstate somewhere. So I hitched my star to the gathering crowd of Itha-trons instead.

I saw Sonic Youth play last year at McPP (completely by accident, I must admit) so I wasn't entirely in the dark about what I was in for. However, since I'm in an admitting kind of mood, before I started fanatically listening to Daydream last week like a student cramming for an exam I wouldn't have been able to pick out a song from that record for the life of me. I'm not sure that I could now, either, as such is the case with cramming. Not to mention that the album has an overarching stamp on it that can make it difficult to tell one song from the other. Which is not necessarily a bad thing and, I should say, if you are going to have a stamp it might as well be this one. Overall I thought it was a great record and now I am probably inclined to agree with everyone (the BF included) that claims this album opened the gates to the contemporary independent music scene. Whatever that means, right? Ha.

At any rate, I had done my homework and was duly prepared (after I navigated the various lines of entry, beer tickets, and actual beer) to be awed at the feet of Sonic Youth. And, while I thought the music was great, I was not that impressed with my concert-going-experience as a whole. First: the sound at McPP could stand some improvement (although, really, outdoor venues are not that great anyway) and the beer distribution and selection could really be improved (two lines? really?). In the grand scheme of things, these might be mere flies to be swatted away but (Second) I bring up my point again about the overarching feel of the record and how one thing can bleed into another....I'll come out and admit it: there were moments of boredom mixed in with the great parts. And as long as I'm technically dissing the album I'm supposed to be lauding, let me also admit that I much preferred the newer material that Sonic Youth closed the show with than the entirety of the Daydream set. But hey, that's just me.

In short, I might see these guys again: I remember enjoying them last year and the newer stuff they played was really rockin' last Saturday. Perhaps they were caught up going through the motions by playing an entire album like that? Who knows. My bigger concern in this moment, is how I'm going to navigate the Pool for the upcoming Kevin Drew show I already have tix for...hrmm.