Sonic Youth announce live recording of their final show in New York
A recording of Sonic Youth‘s final New York show, Live in Brooklyn 2011, will be released on August 18th.
The band, formed in 1981, parted ways in 2011. The recording captures their final performance in their native city, where they played at the Williamsburg Waterfront. They played 17 songs, with support from Kurt Vile and Wild Flag.
In a press release, drummer Steve Shelley shared: “This show was a culmination of a run of really special outdoor summertime shows in New York City for us, starting in ’92 with Summerstage in Central Park when we played with Sun Ra.”
The statement added: “For the Williamsburg Waterfront show I wrote out the set list to present to the band and it was a lot of material we hadn’t played in a while, a lot of deep cuts, so I wasn’t sure if everybody would feel like doing it.”
Shelley continued: “After worrying about which songs the band might say yes or no to, I threw those concerns out the window and I just made a list of songs that I thought would be a great set.”
“We practiced the week of the show at our space in Hoboken and put the set together. First we’d try and make sure we had a guitar in the song’s tuning, then we’d try to remember the arrangement and try and put it together, sometimes re-learning bar by bar. In the end I think the whole song list made it through. Even as early as ’86 and ’87 we stopped playing ‘Death Valley 69’ and ‘Brave Men Run’ with any regularity.”
“On this particular night in Brooklyn a lot of those retired songs and deep cuts got dusted off and played for this show. It turned out to be a pretty special event with a really special song list.”
The album contains tracks such as ‘Kill Yr Idols’, ‘Tom Violence’, ‘Drunken Butterfly’ and ‘Inhuman’. It will be available on double vinyl, CD and tape.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.