IRT Magazine

THURSTON MOORE

Maxwell’s

Hoboken, NJ 9/24/07

It seems to me that Sonic Youth, in one form or another, has appeared in just about every issue of IRT since our inception in 2002. So the act of giving Thurston Moore a copy of our latest issue this past Monday night at his solo performance at Maxwell’s, the kick-off night of his fall tour in support of his outstanding new solo album Trees Outside the Academy, was a very kool thing. A very big thank you goes out to my lovely fiancee Michele for laying on the pressure to hand him a copy of No. 9 as he walked off-stage, which he gladly took with a friendly “cool, thanks” and now joins the ranks of Scarlett Johansson, Aesop Rock, Dawson’s Creek hottie Michelle Williams, Tunde from TV On The Radio and Richard Hell as one of IRT’s celebrity readership. I hope he dug Anthony Parks’ review of the deluxe edition of Daydream Nation and the review of the long, lost Asylum Choir album written by his friend Jason “Coach Fingers” Meagher of Noneck Blues Band fame. And the better news is, after he took one, it inspired the rest of the crowd in attendance to pilfer the stack Michele and I brought into the place to hand out to the people. For the first time in our history, folks were grabbing the magazine out of MY hand rather than me shoving it into theirs. It was a good feeling, and I hope I see more of it as this latest issue papers the city. As for the show, it was one of the best times I’ve seen Mr. Moore perform, be it solo or with Sonic Youth, right up their with my second SY concert, at the old Academy on October 20, 1995 where they broke out a lengthy “Diamond Sea” jam for the ages or on my 30th birthday opening for The Stooges at Jones Beach. Seeing the man on-stage rocking an acoustic guitar for most of the night was a strange and refreshing site, and quite necessary given the calmer nature of Trees Outside The Academy, well most of it at least. His touring band consists of longtime SY drummer Steve Shelley, Samara Lubelski (Tower Recordings), Christopher Brokaw of such great 90s bands as Codeine, Come and NNCK bassist Matt Heyner, and they played excellently together. And structured, playing pretty much the entirety of Trees and a pair of aces from his last “pop” solo album, 1995’s fantastic Psychic Hearts, the title cut and “Queen Bee and Her Pals” (I wonder if he’ll break out “Ono Soul”, the best track on that MF. This was a true had-to-be-there type shows, as I cannot project how many times I’ll ever get to see the likes of Thurston Moore inside such a small club as Maxwell’s again. Maybe by then, he’ll ditch the band altogether for that acoustic guitar. -Ed.

Last Modified : September 28th, 2007
Filed under : In Concert
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