It's a measure of Sonic Youth's incredible back catalogue, spanning a three-decade-long career, that for what turned out to be their final US show, they could overlook the likes of 'Teen Age Riot', 'Expressway To Your Skull' and 'Schizophrenia' and whole albums such as Goo and Washing Machine, pack the set with many of their oldest, darkest, most cacophonous cuts (and even a Thurston Moore solo song) and yet still triumph on every conceivable level. And now you can hear it, in all its glory, released as Live In Brooklyn 2011.
Reviewing the album for Buzz, it was impossible not to acknowledge that, in retrospect, knowing that Moore's marriage to Kim Gordon was about to implode means that the songs themselves - and Moore's closing declaration "With the power of love, anything is possible" - take on a different complexion.
Grayson Haver Currin has compiled an excellent companion piece to the record: an oral history of the show, featuring comments from the band's Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley and Mark Ibold plus support act Kurt Vile, others in their inner circle and fans, and quotes from Gordon and Moore taken from their books Girl In A Band and Sonic Life (neither consented to be interviewed). It covers everything from the setlist Shelley assembled, to the pre-gig tensions, to the setting, atmosphere and details of the show itself, to the tragic aftermath.
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