Cult indie rockers Yo La Tengo visit Brisbane to play us some classic and popular songs.

Check out photos of the show here.

Sydney-based Songs kick the night off to a not-so-full Hi-Fi. They sound like most bands you’ve ever heard, with frontman Jeff Burch channelling Lou Reed and Bob Dylan for most of the set. The band start with Farmacy and are a little shaky for the first half of their performance, until eventually finding their groove and showing just how tight a band they can be by the time they arrive at set-closer My Number. Their shakiness might also have to do with their somewhat disjointed collection of poppy tunes and extended jams – swinging between girl-boy yo-yoing vocals and instrumental epics. It takes a little while for birthday girl Ela Stiles ’ voice to warm up, but once it is it’s a sweet thing to hear. It seems they need to loosen up, with all four members sporting rather serious expressions all set – although it can’t have been easy for them to be staring out at a handful of seated punters.

Yo La Tengo step onto the stage smiling shyly. Although they’ve recently released an album, Popular Songs, they opt to kick off with an old track – Evanescent Psychic Pez Drop from the compilation Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo. The crowd, expectedly older than the usual turn-out, are next treated to a pair of new songs More Stars Than There Are In Heaven, and Avalon or Someone Very Similar. The crowd are more than pleased to be taken back a decade with melancholy number The Crying Of Lot G. Even older track Stockholm Syndrome, from the 1997 album I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One , sees bassist James McNew take over on vocals, and a fine guitar jam. Frontman Ira Kaplan takes the time to point out the “fine shirts” (Yo La Tengo merch) in the audience. He spots a Popular Songs tee among the others, and segues into another new song, If It’s True, that takes him from his guitars to a keyboard. It’s a groovy number with girl-boy vocals.

With Kaplan remaining seated behind the keyboard, we’re treated to the jazzy Winter A Go-Go. It’s a jerky fast/slow tune that showcases drummer Georgia Hubley ’s sweet vocals for the first time tonight. The band come back to the new album, with the opening track Here To Fall and its hypnotising, relentless bass line. Hubley steps out from behind her drum-kit and heads to the centre of the stage, picking up an acoustic guitar for I’m On My Way. A drum machine fills in for her drumming duties. She puts down the guitar for Decora – from the band’s seventh album, Electr-O-Pura. Kaplan and McNew put down their battered electric guitars – now wielding acoustics. Hubley’s beautiful vocals shine – and the crowd show their appreciation with the biggest cheer of the night. Double Dare, from their 1993 album Painful, is sandwiched between new songs When It’s Dark and Periodically Double or Triple. The song takes the band back to their rock roots, with electric guitars and Hubley back on drums. Periodically Double Or Triple has a few false starts, but pulls off a mid-song freeze, cowbell and a fuzzy keyboard freak-out.

The band play straight into Tom Courtenay – an example of pure, perfect indie rock. Popular Songs stand-out Nothing to Hide is next, and sounds almost like a Sonic Youth track. The lights dim to a red glow for set closer Pass The Hatchet, I think I’m Goodkind – which is met with much cheering. The quirky bass intro leads into what seems to be a fight between Kaplan and his guitar. He can’t decide whether he loves it or hates it, alternately dangling the poor thing by its strings and holding it close. Bashing it up, holding it close. Thrashing it about, holding it close. The epic jam lasts the better part of fifteen minutes.

The band returns for a short encore that starts with a cover. It’s a song by a band from Cleveland, Ohio named the Wombats – Kaplan makes sure to mention that they’ve never actually heard of a somewhat more popular band that happen to share the name. Kaplan then looks around, a little lost, providing an opportunity for an eager fan to shout out a request for perhaps the poppiest tune of the night. “ Today is the Day ? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, let’s play that one”. A few other requests are fended off with the explanation that “there’s a band policy – no 15 minute songs during the encore!”

A snare has been set up on the stage all night for the final song, a tribute to Grant McLellan in the form of Go-Betweens song Dive For Your Memory. It’s nice to see a Brisbane-specific song enter the set, with the crowd mouthing the lyrics silently as the song is played.

Yo La Tengo are a band with a vast array of influences – jazz, rock, pop – that they’ve\ explored over their 26 year history. It’s always interesting to see which songs will turn out when bands with such extensive discographies come out to play, and it seems they didn’t disappoint anyone with a good smattering of old and new alike.