The Pacific Ocean is awesome. Mount Everest is awesome. Slurpees are awesome.

Well, I do know what you mean. It's funny what people can do to put you off (me + YLT, you + GBV). The GBV show sort of put a final stamp on them, for me. I had never seen the "classic lineup"—only the Doug Gillard "pro" lineup—and I liked this classic lineup more, in terms of the spirit if not sound. Plus, all due…

Refusing to sing along—a couple theories:

I agree—it was a perfect venue. There was a general admission standing area directly in front of the stage, ringed by VIP seating/boxes. The rest of the theater was (I think) gen admission, 1st come-1st served seating—really not a bad seat in the place.

Yep…that's who it was! Now I see (thanks Google) what a large body of work he's done. Truly impressive, sensitive, inventive playing.

Yo La Tengo's set sucked—a mixture of their tedious "atmospheric minimalism," in-jokes with Matador, and Ira doing his guitar wanking off that he does every time in place of having any musical ideas. Seriously—doesn't HE get tired of doing that "I'm mangling my guitar again" shtick?

I was really looking forward to their set but I found them very shtick-y and a little irritating. I had never seen them live before so I guess maybe they were always shtick-y and I overlooked it due to the awesome rockingness on record. But I think the sound problem at the start might have soured their set for me.

I was really taken with her band, as well, particularly the drummer. They had a wonderful sense of dynamics.

Yo La Tengo…I like them, but here's the thing: They do that "We're really slow and mellow" bit, alternated with "Ira mangles his guitar." When you do that guitar-mangling bit for several songs, it ceases to make an impact (especially in the wake of Sonic Youth's awesome set). It is the indie rock equivalent of the…