Yo La Tengo in Chicago

Yo La Tengo in Chicago, originally uploaded by cambalzer.

The quietest, beautifulest rock show you'll ever see. Yo La Tengo played an intimate acoustic set tonight in Chicago for diehard fans and newer devotees, me in the latter category. In their "The Freewheelin' Yo La Tengo" mode, they chatted with the fans, alternately answered and dodged questions (like how Ira proposed to Georgia), and covered everything from the b-side of Ira's first ever 45 (Let's Spend the Night Together has never sounded so innocent) to Brian Wilson's Farmer's Daughter (the closer).

Great versions of three or four songs from "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass," including Weakest Part and a quietly blistering Pass The Hatchet. Plus a lot of stuff that all their real fans knew well but we got to enjoy for the first time!

Ira claimed that none of them are great players, but they clearly know who they are and play who they are. They could not look less rock and roll but they "totally delivered the goods" (as James said Van Halen did when they were the second band he ever saw).