Yo La Tengo with The Dream Syndicate at Bowery Ballroom - Hanukkah night 6 2021
photo by Ellen Qbertplaya

The Dream Syndicate & Jaimie Branch joined Yo La Tengo for Hanukkah Night 6 (pics, setlist)

After celebrating their 37 anniversary as a band on Thursday, Yo La Tengo entered the home stretch of their 2021 Hanukkah run on Friday night with another show full of festive cheer, covers, deep cuts and surprise guests.

While Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die was the night’s opening act, the evening actually started with a tribute to experimental composer Alvin Lucier, who died this week at age 90 and with whom Yo La Tengo had collaborated in the past. Ira Kaplan and James McNew came out to perform “Criss-Cross,” a drone piece for two guitars that Lucier had written for Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley and Oren Ambarchi.

Trumpeter Jaimie Branch mixes jazz, hip hop, spoken word and more with Fly or Die — featuring Jason Ajemian on bass, Chad Taylor on drums, and Lester St. Louis on cello — which really warmed the crowd up. Next was comedian Dina Hashem who joked about the irony of having a Muslim American perform at a Hanukkah show.

For Yo La Tengo’s main set, Fly or Die drummer Chad Taylor joined the band for almost their whole set, and the rest of Fly or Die came out for “As the Hour Grows Late” and stuck around for “Let’s Be Still,” “The Summer” and “Moby Octopad.” Yo La Tengo’s set also included “Cherry Chapstick,” “Pablo and Andrea,” “She May, She Might,” “From a Motel 6,” and covers of songs by The Urinals, Randy Newman and Angry Samoans. Their main set ended in a “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss.”

For the encore, Yo La Tengo opened with a cover of The Dream Syndicate‘s “Definitely Clean,” and Ira said he’d understand if people didn’t come to Saturday’s penultimate Hanukkah show as The Dream Syndicate were playing at Brooklyn Made. Then they brought out The Dream Syndicate to perform a short set with Yo La Tengo helping out, playing “Too Little, Too Late,” “Some Kind of Itch,” and “Tell Me When It’s Over,” plus a cover of fellow Paisley Underground scenesters The Bangles’ “Hero Takes a Fall.” Check out the full Night 6 setlist via Jesse Jarnow’s Frank & Earthy blog, below.

The Night 6 mix CD was made by Ira and sold out quick, and proceeds from the whole evening benefited Abortion Access Front. Photos from the whole night by Ellen Qbertplaya are in this post.

You can check out recaps of their previous Hanukkah shows here. Two more nights left.

SETLIST: Yo La Tengo @ Bowery Ballroom 12/3/2021 (Hanukkah Night 6)
Cherry Chapstick
Nothing To Hide
She May, She Might >
Ack Ack Ack Ack (The Urinals) >
She May, She Might
Pablo and Andrea
Have You Seen My Baby (Randy Newman)
Tired Hippo
I’m On My Way
I’ll Be Around
As the Hour Grows Late (with Jaimie Branch/trumpet, Jason Ajemian/bass, Lester St. Louis/cello)
Let’s Be Still (with JB/JA/LSL)
The Summer (with JB/JA/LSL)
Moby Octopad (with JB/JA/LSL)
Right Side of My Mind (Angry Samoans)
From A Motel 6
Mushroom Cloud of Hiss

*(encore)* with the Dream Syndicate
Definitely Clean (Dream Syndicate)
Too Little, Too Late (Dream Syndicate) (without Ira & James)
Hero Takes A Fall (The Bangles)
Some Kinda Itch (Dream Syndicate)
Tell Me When It’s Over (Dream Syndicate)

setlist via Frank & Earthy