Favorite Live Bands #10 - Sonic Youth

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Time for a new music series, because I am obsessed with music, especially live music. I'll go see practically anyone, which is why Jewel was in the running for this countdown: Favorite Live Bands. #10 belongs to the late, great, Sonic Youth. Sonic Youth has been referred to as everything from noise rock to alternative rock to no wave. What made the band great was guitarist's/vocalist's Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's use of off tune guitars, often augmented by screwdrivers and other objects, while bassist/vocalist Kim Gordon and drummer Steve Shelley played it straight. The result? A glorious wall of noisy, melodic beauty. I had been wanting to see them for years, but everytime they came through Denver, I was unable to make it. Finally, I got to see them at the Ogden Theater in Denver in the early 2000's, say 2003 or so. The Ogden is pretty much a pit, with a sound system so bad that Cowboy Junkies (also in contention for this countdown) vocalist Margo Timmons once said it sounded like it was "blown out by a hair band in the 80's and never replaced." It was perfect for Sonic Youth. Sonic Youth didn't run around on stage, they didn't use any sort of visual effects, they stood there, and played. And played. And they played a lot of great songs: "Kool Thing," "Teenage Riot," Dirty Boots," "Rain on Tin," "Disappearer," "Death Valley 69," and so on and so on. And they played them loudly. And all I could think about was "I'm standing about 15 feet from Kim Gordon!" (OK, I did think that, but I still payed rapt attention to the entire show. Rather than continuously hitting the beer line, I even took full advantage of the waitress so that I wouldn't miss a thing.) But still, I WAS 15 feet away from Kim Gordon! Let's just say that we had a blast. It was a show that was definitely worth the wait, because Sonic Youth was a great live band.