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Yo La Tengo played 4 nights @ Bell House (pics, setlists)

photos by PSquared Photography

Yo La Tengo @ The Bell House, 12/13/13
Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo launched a four-night residency at Brooklyn’s Bell House on Friday, playing a double-header set to a crowd of devotees who, in previous years, would’ve followed the band to their usual mid-December haunt, legendary Hoboken bar/restaurant/music venue Maxwell’s.

But Maxwell’s closed the doors to its performance space this past summer, leaving that annual series of Hanukkah shows without a home. And while the New Jersey trio have found a new haven in a sold-out room near the Gowanus Canal, frontman Ira Kaplan insisted that the December 13 gig was simply the first in a string of “boring old Yo La Tengo shows,” and not the next installment of the treasured Hanukkah franchise, which ran from 2001 to 2012.

So, rather than the usual eight concerts, there are four, and the standard Hanukkah show openers — a musical act followed by stand-up comedy — were missing. What remained, though, was the intimacy shared between the audience and the indie-rock lifers. – [SPIN]

Maxwell’s is no more and, as the SPIN article mentions above, Yo La Tengo‘s four sold-out holiday shows at The Bell House were not intended to replace their legendary Hanukah runs at the Hoboken venue (where Maxwell’s booker Todd Abramson now works). But they did work a similar intimate vibe over the course of the weekend. Each show worked the same: two sets, one acoustic and one electric, and they opened with “Ohm” and reprised it in the electric set every night. Pictures from Night 1 and setlists from all four shows are in this post, and you can download a recording of the entire show over at NYC Taper.

More below…

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SETLIST: Yo La Tengo @ The Bell House, 12/13/2013
Acoustic
Ohm
Two Trains
Periodically Double or Triple
Madeline
You Make Me Feel Good
The Point of It
Cornelia and Jane
I’ll Be Around
Black Flowers

Electric
Stupid Things
We’re an American Band
Stockholm Syndrome
Super Kiwi
If It’s True
Before We Run
The Story Of Jazz
Tom Courtenay
Ohm
Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind

SETLIST: Yo La Tengo @ The Bell House, 12/14/2013
Acoustic
Ohm
Green Arrow
Paddle Forward
Fog Over Frisco
The Point of It
Cornelia and Jane
I’ll Be Around
Autumn Sweater
Nowhere Near

Electric
Stupid Things
Well You Better
False Alarm
Super Kiwi
Shaker
Before We Run
Double Dare
Decora
Ohm
The Story of Yo La Tango
Encore:
Drug Test
Gimme All Your Lovin’ (ZZ Top)
Griselda (Peter Stampfel)
Behind That Locked Door (George Harrison)

SETLIST: Yo La Tengo @ The Bell House, 12/15/2013
Acoustic
Ohm
Two Trains
Shadows
From Black to Blue
How to Make a Baby Elephant Float
The Point of It
Cornelia and Jane
I’ll Be Around
Can’t Forget
Tom Courtenay
(Georgia on vocals)

Electric
Cherry Chapstick
Is That Enough
Super Kiwi
Upside-Down
Mr. Tough
Before We Run
Nothing to Hide
Sugarcube
Ohm
I Heard You Looking
(With Joe Puleo)

Encore:
Moby Octopad
Disguises (The Who)
The Whole of the Law (The Only Ones)
Somebody’s in Love (Sun Ra)

SETLIST: Yo La Tengo @ The Bell House, 12/16/2013
Acoustic
Ohm
Our Way to Fall
When It’s Dark
Is That Enough
Butchie’s Tune (The Lovin’ Spoonful)
The Point of It
Cornelia and Jane
I’ll Be Around
Satellite
Big Day Coming

Electric
Stupid Things
Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House
Outsmartener
Super Kiwi
Autumn Sweater
Before We Run
Deeper Into Movies
From a Motel 6
Ohm
Blue Line Swinger

Encore:
Time Fades Away (Neil Young cover w/ Tara Key on lead guitar)
By the Time It Gets Dark (Sandy Denny)
My Little Corner of the World (Anita Bryant cover w/ Ira’s mom on vocals)