[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by Everyneurotic

i rather leave wanting to see them again rather than get sick of them playing for too long.

repped for exactness

[viewtiful_alan]

I didn't know that was their standard length.
I thought the show I saw was short because of the venue's strict time limits.

[toxic johnny]

I can't think of anything worse than standing watching a band play for 2 or 3 hours even if they happen to be your favourite band...

I saw Lambsbread play a 10 mins or so set at ATP and it was fucking fantastic... short sharp and to the point. It is impossible to sustain 100% commitment and passion for even an hour onstage in my opinion. The band owes it to the audience not to go through the motions.

So I think that SY should play shorter sets!!!!!.

But what do I know... I'm just an old Punk ideologist.

[uhler]

yeah the shorter the set the better. i think an hour is just fine for any band.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by toxic johnny

I can't think of anything worse than standing watching a band play for 2 or 3 hours even if they happen to be your favourite band...

I cant either, thats why you need to learn to dance!

[Cantankerous]

i can't dance for more than two hours.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

i can't dance for more than two hours.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Cantankerous again.

[acdc518]

Thurstons pushing 50 and i don't think i could rock out like he does for an hour 1/2 without dying and i'm 20. they probably want maintain a certain energy level throughout their entire show and maybe a hour and a half is as long as they can go.

[Sonic Youth 37]

It might be a lot to do with venue sometimes too, Pitchfork I know had a time limit. Hour and a half seems right though, not including encores.

[tesla69]

Originally Posted by toxic johnny

I saw Lambsbread play a 10 mins or so set at ATP and it was fucking fantastic...

there is an awesome recording of that set. I'm sure they'll release it on CDr at some point.

I once asked Lee if SY would ever think about playing really long sets, in the context of The Dead or Led Zep, who would play 3 hour gigs. He laughed and said he didn't think the fans would want to hear that much. I told him this fan would definitely like to hear long sets. 90 mins is a long time, no matter how much adrenaline you get going.

[Chris Lawrence]

Interesting topic. I remember the NYC Ghosts and Flowers tour shows were about 70 minutes, which I thought was a little less than satisfying, but I was primarily basing that on the "Thousand Leaves" tour sets which were usually about 100 minutes, if I recall. Long songs from the album + SYR tunes + couple of obscure oldies in the encore + buncha noise to finish it off. Those were great shows, but... same 13 songs, every night, for the whole year. Seemed really insane to me at the time. Still kinda does. And yet, if you saw one of those shows you certainly felt satisfied.

Those of you who collect live shows will certainly notice that most of SY's pre-98 recordings will fit on a single CD-R. After the oddly short NYC Ghosts tour in 2000 (where the songs did start getting jammed out a little more as they went, plus they were teaching Jim new songs on the road, I think), the Murray Street + beyond gigs have all seemed like a suitable length to me, and yet, many artists of SY's stature do seem to have a 2-hour set list. I think SY accomplish a lot in their full-length sets, which are usually pretty cookie cutter across a tour, aside from the rare triple encore or whatever. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if they played more songs, but I guess I don't feel like I'm being short-changed by most full-length SY shows I see. Are their ticket prices still pretty decent? I definitely expect more if I'm paying $50+ for a show...

[acdc518]

i think it was $35 for the nashville show they did in april

[Sonic Youth 37]

All told, the tickets were $30.50, which average to $2.46 a minute for SY (I didn't include the opening band, no idea how long they played), which I feel is more than a fair price.

[wordplay]

Originally Posted by Death & the Maiden

I guess it's because they don't like rehashing a lot of their older material. Other bands will go through their back catologue and play all their hits and popular songs, and therefore they have much longer shows. Maybe SY want to be a forward moving band who are showing that they still have a lot to offer?

I don't think that argument stands up when they are touring and playing Daydream Nation in its entrity 20 years after they made it.

[SYRFox]

Why do Sonic Youth play only 1 and a half hour shows? Maybe because three hours shows suck. I mean really. Except in case of bands like Godspeed who has 20 minutes compositions so I can understand, really I think I would get fucking disguted at a Cure show for instance: seeing a band playing all their hits has no interest for me. I prefer seeing a band, knowing that I won't hear some song but will be surprised about other songs. For instance when I saw Animal Collective I was thinking they would play Grass (they play it again) or We Tigers, but they didn't - hearing Grace and Nomorerunnin' was fantasticly surprising on the other hand

[o'connor]

i think their live shows are fine the way they are. that being said, i wouldn't bitch at all if they played longer.