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


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

Rotating between instruments without ceremony, Hubley takes the lead on hushed Aselestine, a quiet triumph, while McNew fronts the swinging, surreal Tonight’s Episode. Recent song Fallout is an easy high; its whirring groove and evergreen melody sits easily next to decades-long fan favourites such as Sudden Organ (a magnificently unhinged carnival of synthesised harpsichord), the delicious comic timing of Moby Octopad and the tender shoegaze of Decora. Until now, Yo La Tengo have been a closed circuit on stage, eyes only for each other – but when they invite Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley for a radiant, frenzied, guitar-filled I Heard You Looking, the show finds a tantalising new openness.

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