0 CHBP: Sonic Youth

Holy so many people! Sonic Youth's headlining set on Saturday was so jam packed, every time I shifted position awaiting their presence on stage I bumped into someone different. I saw at least three shoving matches when skinny dudes tried to push their way to the front, which was pretty entertaining. There was absolutely no more room for any one in front of the main stage. As far as the music went, SY killed "The Eternal" stuff, which took up just about their entire set. This was no surprise because all indications were that they would play close to the entire album. I personally was fine with it because the new songs like "Anti-Orgasm", "Sacred Trixster", and "Antenna" stand up pretty well with their legendary catalog. Their hour long set plus encore met all my expectations even though I was relegated to the beer garden section. I became a little claustrophobic mashed against all those people and decided to high tail out of that death trap to get some fresh air. They ended the night with one of their classics "Death Valley '69", which for some reason didn't come across as well as the new stuff in my opinion. Either way it was solid, I saw Kinski's Chris Martin enjoying himself very much as well, and I can't wait for a proper Seattle show down the road.

Sonic Youth July 25, 2009 Set List:

1. No Way
2. Sacred Trickster
3. Calming the Snake
4. Stereo Sanctity
5. Poison Arrow
6. Walkin Blue
7. Anti-Orgasm
8. Hey Joni
9. Antenna
10. Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)
11. Massage the History
12. ’Cross the Breeze

ENCORE

13. What We Know
14. Death Valley ’69