Live Stream GBV YLT COVID-19
BY JORDAN MAINZER
It started with the familiar sights: a bucket filled with Miller Lites and a bottle of Jose Cuervo, Robert Pollard’s button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and baggy pants, the rest of the band in their usual more fitted almost all-black uniform. As they played, Pollard leaned over the stage, belting classics and new songs alike, like he normally would into a crowd. Only this show from Guided By Voices was professionally prerecorded and mixed, played to an empty, socially distant venue, The Brightside, in Dayton, broadcast to the rest of the world, benefiting various venues the band has played. The idea of a GBV show where the crowd members didn’t put their arms around each other during “The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory” or scream to one another during “Game Of Pricks” is absurd and counter-intuitive in theory. But in practice, it worked.
While not quite the three-hour marathons of which the band’s usual tours consist, and containing almost no between-song banter or introductions, GBV’s set on Friday was still 53 songs, 2+ hours of well-paced four P’s (pop, punk, prog, and psych), and the best-selling Noonchorus concert to date. As if to ease us into the idea of a virtual show, the band didn’t immediately come out with rippers, instead playing the usual selection of tracks from the current year (Surrender Your Poppy Field’s “Year of the Hard Hitter” and “Volcano”, and the upcoming Mirrored Aztec’s “Haircut Sphinx” and “To Keep An Area”; there was nothing from MA follow-up Styles We Paid For), and deep cuts, including a jammed-out, tambourine-laden performance of the title track to Pollard solo album Moses on a Snail. About a third of the way through, they dropped not just the classic songs, but the classic live show experiences. Like before at a real show, I heard the opening snare hits to “Motor Away” from a bathroom--this one my own--and rushed to make it back to witness the performance. I laughed at Pollard’s tree pose introducing Doug Gillard-penned classic “I Am A Tree”. I remained grateful that the band’s brought pop masterpiece “Chasing Heather Crazy” back into the fold, while marveling at hearing “Hot Freaks” live for the first time in my life. The Guided By Voices community remains strong, even from a great distance; a few beers deep, my girlfriend and I spontaneously video chatted with a fan we’d never met (and now friend) in the Netherlands, where it was almost 3 AM.
Whereas Guided By Voices tried to recreate as much of the live experience as possible, another 90′s indie rock stalwart embraced the differences between the before times and the COVID times, using the opportunity to give fans a rare glimpse into their creative process. From their cluttered practice space (in between collections of old clocks and Simpsons paraphernalia were layers of cardboard and stacks of paper), Yo La Tengo broadcast two 30-45 minute performances of “formless” music, instrumental jam sessions that often act as the origins of the spaced-out pop songs they’re known for. In addition to releasing We Have Amnesia Sometimes, a five-track recording of similar socially distant sessions from April, Yo La Tengo took control of the moment, raising money for the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute fighting on behalf of democracy and justice, while giving fans a taste of their ability to improvise rhythms and melodies.
The music during both shows was generally gorgeous. Saturday night started with all three on guitar, alternating between strummed, picked, and scratched rhythms and harmonic drones. There was plenty of randomness; Georgia Hubley twice hitting a cymbal with the end of her guitar was either a coincidental effect of a cramped space or extemporaneous controlled chaos. Both within and between tracks, the band members switched instruments, as the first ended with Hubley pivoting to a keyboard and James McNew to a Moog. The second track was more percussion-heavy, starting with Hubley on drums and McNew on the Moog but quickly moving to rhythmic guitar picking. Hubley and Ira Kaplan played dual percussion, the former using toms, then brushes, and Kaplan toms on a snare and tambourine. Eventually, drums were traded for guitars and then for more loops, drones, and layers, ending full circle with percussive shakes. Sunday afternoon’s stream was more of a groove, starting with all three band members on the keys, producing a whistling drone. As McNew switched to a reverb-heavy guitar, Kaplan was the one this time fully embracing randomness, playing at times with his wrists and knuckles. Eventually, it was McNew’s turn on the drums, as he provided tom rolls on cymbals, snare, and floor tom with a towel draped over it, his head nodding along to Hubley’s pedal guitars and Kaplan’s harmonic keyboard waves. The track ended sparsely with siren-like Moog playing and twangy guitar plucks from McNew; there were multiple times throughout when nobody appeared to be playing anything.
Just as these two bands represented polar opposites of the 90′s lo-fi spectrum, they both approached their live streams in converse, equally successful ways. It’s clear virtual concerts will never be a replacement for in-person live shows. But due to the pandemic and logistical difficulty of putting on safe, socially distant shows, the club continues to be open at home only.
