Hanukkah began Sunday night, therefore so did one of the world's greatest holiday traditions, Yo La Tengo's annual eight-night Hanukkah concert residency at New York's Bowery Ballroom. Sunday's surprise openers were Jon Glaser and longtime YLT pals Sun Ra Arkestra, who joined the headliners for the majority of Sunday's performance. Per setlist.fm, Housing Justice For All was the night's charity beneficiary.
Before teaming up with the Arkestra (still led by 101-year-old Marshall Allen), Yo La Tengo opened their set with a cover of Neil Young And Chrome Hearts' unreleased protest song "Big Crime," a wild choice of repertoire. They then reworked Russ Ballard's "New York Groove" — famously recorded by the recently deceased KISS guitarist Ace Frehley — tweaking the refrain to say "Back with the New York Jews." (It wasn't the first time they've covered "New York Groove," but the timing makes sense.)
Later on, YLT and the Arkestra joined forces on several songs by each band, and they covered Jad Fair's "Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert By Mistake #1" and Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers' "Emulsified." The main set ended, of course, with the Sun Ra/YLT classic "Nuclear War." Covers during the encore included Richard Hell, Blue Öyster Cult, and the Ronettes.
Check out a bunch of footage from the gig below, starting with that reimagined "New York Groove."
