Yo La Tengo squeezed more than a drop of good will from a sugarcube last night at Maxwell's in Hoboken. The band performed a last-minute Japan Benefit Concert to a packed room of sweaty record store clerks—all the proceeds went to Peace Winds Japan, a Tokyo-based non-profit organization helping those displaced by the recent disaster. But in typical Yo La Tengo fashion, they weren't alone: SNL star Fred Armisen sat in on drums for the entire show, Glenn Mercer of The Feelies joined them for four songs, and legendary bike enthusiast David Byrne dropped by in grandfatherly overalls for a handful of tunes as well during the invigorating, nearly-three hour show.
The band was in particularly fun, raunchy form for the two-set show, playing a wide range of their best loved songs, some acoustic rarities, and covers, including an eyeball-popping run through of Velvet Underground classic "Run, Run, Run." Highlights from the first set included the bass-groovy "Moby Octopad," the keyboard-pounding "Periodically Double Or Triple," a lonesome version of "Tears Are In Your Eyes" with Byrne on harmonies, and a slowed-down, spacey version of Talking Heads classic "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel."
Somehow the band delivered an even better second set, unloading every huge guitar song in their arsenal, including "Decora," "Sugarcube," "Cherry Chapstick" and "From A Motel 6." The highlight of the night may have been the absolutely destructive guitar freakout of "Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind," which saw guitarist Ira Kaplan utilizing every trick he knew with his pedals, and even found him switching guitars midway through the song without losing a beat. Overall, it was definitely the best set we've ever seen the band play together.
Below, you can see a video of Yo La Tengo rocking out "Little Eyes", performing a rare acoustic version of "Black Flowers," and David Byrne giving a typically enthralling history lesson on revolutions before playing a new song:
"Black Flowers"
David Byrne
"Little Eyes"
