Yo La Tengo review – indie royalty run through their beloved back catalogue

SWG3, Glasgow
Over a two-and-a-half-hour set the trio turn over old songs and new from their 40-year career, unearthing surprises every time

‘We put out another record; it’s our hundredth,” deadpans Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan. Last year’s This Stupid World was, in fact, their 17th LP, but it’s been 40 years since guitarist Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubley founded the band, and 30 since bassist James McNew joined for good. Certified indie-rock royalty, this tour is a celebration of that almighty back catalogue and a display of the questing musical curiosity which has made them so beloved.

For two and a half hours, without a support act or flashy showmanship, the trio turn over old songs and new like pebbles in a rockpool, unearthing surprises every time. Divided into two sets by a polite intermission, the first hour is a slower, intense sampling from that “hundredth” album. An extended, absorbing roll through the already seven-minute Sinatra Drive Breakdown sets the pace; Kaplan’s metallic guitar writhing around McNew’s driving bass and Hubley’s nuanced, bone-rattling percussion. The song rises and falls, expands and contracts, and the trio remain fixed, firmly, on each other.

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