Sonic Youth show intensity
 

well im going to my first SY show in Dallas this month and i know the shows gonna kick ass but do people just stand around and try to look cool or are thier people that are actually rockin out or is the whole house rockin out?? cause its no fun if u cant get into the music.

-alex

i could only attend a SY gig once..
and it was a combination of the two..
we were in the front, and we rocked out..
people in the back had a more mellow attitude..

have fun alex..

^:
Very true. It depends on what is being played @ the moment. Most songs will be rockin' out, not giving a fuck about jump dancing. Then there will be the experimental parts where you just have to sit and observe everything that SY does on stage. Like when ending on "Expressway To Yr Skull". That was the last song they played @ my first SY show. & I just marveled at what I was witnessing.
Anyway, just do whatever comes natural.
Here's a pic of my first SY show...

hey thats a cool shot marley.

From my experience at an SY show in boston most people just stood there, not moving at all although there were the pockets of people that were jumping and reacting to the set.

You can be reacting and interacting to live music without "jumping" around. To each their own but some people get lost in trance some boogie some sit.

I prefer to boogie.

if you see me I am ROCKIN, my body cannot stop moving to the sonic yout, myh eyes are closed most of the time. I fucking feel it frommy taint to my toes to my eyes to my ears.
most people at sonic youth shows are NOT moshing, they are standing there enjoying the sonic assualt and that is FINE!
when sonic youth go into skronk freakouts, which they do on nearly every song, the ears are there to listen, and it is not conducive for physically rocking out and shit.

I SWEAT at sonic youth shows!

Yeah, when I saw them on the Murray St. tour, there was a lot of crowdsurfing during Karenology, which I thought was weird

I prefer to soak up the vibe without a whole lot of movement. Whatever movement I find myself doing, my feet still remain in place. Most of SY just doesn't feel like dance or mosh music to me.

how long do they play for?

I find it really depends on where you see them, what kind of venue, how old the people in audience, etc. Most of the times I've been to a Sonic Youth show there has been lots of standing w/ isolated pockets of movement. Never seen really obnoxious moshing, very light if any. I'm the kind of guy that wants to move but w/out slamming into people and shit, usually (although there was moshing when they played teenage riot which I enjoyed and was understandable if not a little contrived.) Every time I've seen them has been in New York, and there are a lot of boring, too-cool stare types in the audience usually. It really just depends.

when i saw them, kim danced something fierce, thurston jumped into the crowd and lee swung his guitar around while the crowd yelled "the old guy's gonna break it! rock and roll!" and "break it!!!". i think that was pretty intense.

i nodded my head and sang along.

I'm down. Drinks before hand? Pills?

I chilled in back and smoked cigarettes.

Ahh-ite.

I go to shows nice and sober. That way I can remember them. :)

i got scared a few weeks ago when booking tickets for paris...
it said there were "seats", and i thought it can't be a sit down show...
it's not, right?

holy shit . . . karenology as in both karen songs? how does that work exactly? that sounds amazing.