Sonic Youth are doing a series of shows in out of the way places in the U.S. to coincide with their being on the road opening up for Pearl Jam.  These shows are dubbed "SYR shows" because they aren't necessarily just Sonic Youth proper, but are the individual members of the group performing solo work, with other collaborators, and then finally together as a band.  It's all a mixed bag of old and new school sound experimentation, improv and exploration, and is the kind of thing that the members of Sonic Youth do all the time in New York City.  I think it's really cool that Sonic Youth and friends are doing this at unexpected places like The Last Place On Earth venue in Memphis, Tennessee.  My (cyber) friend Troy Morris recently went to the aforementioned show and sent me copies of the great photos he took (mucho thanks Troy!)  I put what he wrote on the back of each photo below in red.  Also, at the bottom of this page, I included two great rambling essay posted on alt.music.sonic-youth by two funny guys named Lee and Robert - who happened to be at the same show (did you run into them maybe Troy? note: Troy says he remembers them!) They are both funny stories. I also added the exact set list, which was provided by Chris Lawrence.  Enjoy...

Oh yea if forgot, Troy also sent me the setlist from the show
(did you swipe this Troy or were they passing them out? note: Troy says he swiped it! Shhh!)
Click here to see the actual set list.

Troy: Me outside the club. It was called The Last Place On Earth.


Troy: Thurston (Moore) greeting the crowd...

Troy: "Come on up with me, Jim (O'Rourke)"

Troy: Jim: "I'm coming..." Steve (Shelly), Lee (Renaldo), Eddie (Vedder): "hehehe..."


Troy: Performing "Psychic Hearts"

Troy: A violin bow makes a great sound.

Troy: Eddie! Oh my God! It can't be ...but it is!


Troy: Kim (Gordon) goin' solo.
note: this wasn't in the set list, but I think she may have been performing "International Spy"
(sans Ikue Mori and DJ Olive) from SYR#5 - the Kim Gordon/Ikue Mori/DJ Olive trio CD.

Troy: This nice girl took this picture for me.
Here I am completely soaked in sweat because, in Thurston's words; "It's hot like Africa."


Troy: Performing "Tom Violence"



Troy: "Kool Thing...sitting with a kitty..."

Troy: "Now you know you're sure lookin' pretty..."

Troy: OK this is not that great of a shot. But...I think it's cool because this is a straight up shot.
After all, she was leaning over my head!

Troy: "Are you gonna liberate us girls from male white corporate oppression?"

Troy: Playing guitar with the trumpet...BRILLIANT! Back me up Eddie!

Troy: Attacking Thurston. She then proceeded to hump him (I was jealous).

Troy: "Lightnin' strikes meeeee dowwwnnn...."
 

Here is the exact set list of the entire evening:
posted on alt.music.sonic-youth (via Lee Ranaldo himself) by: Chris Lawrence
(note: Chris is a prolific SY documenteaur - check out his tabs page of every piece ever composed by SY here, or check out his ongoing list and discription of every show SY have ever performed here)

here's the fwd from lee ranaldo... EDDIE VEDDER ON LIGHTNIN??? Robert (Traxler), you MUST fill us in!!

 Memphis, TN.  8.16.00 - last place on earth

"I SAW THE SYR SHOW IN MEMPHIS!"
posted on alt.music.sonic-youth by: Lee (kicksexoutthevan)

i'll start with the sonic/pearl show (it is honestly very very hard to compare this show with the syr show but ill get to that), sonic youth comes out..i go fucking nuts...well before that i saw sonic youth kinda standing to the side of the stage and i said "SONIC YOUTH!!!" like really fucking loud and thurston looked up but they didnt really see me.  The crowd responded pretty decently for the mainstreamers they mostly were, although many were gaping, MANY WERE ALSO ROCKING! (i explained to this guy from bono,arkansas about what sonic youth were about).  But anyways, they played:

 Bull in the Heather
 100%
 Side2side
 Free City Rhymes
 Kool Thing
 Burning Spear
 NYC Ghosts and Flowers
 (not in that order)

 the noisiest and most fucked up were by far nyc ghosts and burning spear...i think the rest were pretty "concievable" (for "them"),  but i loved burning spear (they totally NOISED OUT) and NYC (they just kept playing...MANY WERE GAPING)...then pearl jam came on..

 yes, i love pearl jam...it just...its like seeing a seeing GOD (yes,..GOD), then seeing "just some guy", sorry but sonic youth blew pearl  jam's 2 1/2 hour set out of the water!  I will say that pearl jam definitely had its moments though.

 Well, the nxt day was NOTHING TO COMPARE THAT TOO. Starts out, my friend is drinking from like, the very beginning of the day, so he is drunk by the time we leave my friends place and we decide to head over the Shangri-la records cause ive been told Sonic Youth frequent there (this was around 1pm)..i go in and i havent been in there 5 minutes when thurston pops his head in the door and does something (im not sure what), then leaves...my smart (drunk) friend decided to follow him over to nearby music store, while i was in shangri-la comprehending what i just saw...i finally get the gall to go over there and i see lee, thurston, jim, and some short dude all hanging out and i also see this dude i met at shangri-la who's dj name is  tom violence (yes the one thurson dedicated a song to)..so i kinda "mosey" on over to where my friend is quietly standing beside lee ranaldo and eventually start asking lee about a cd he did with william hooker and he says something about it (i totally forgot..i was in awe..hehe) and i think my friend says something about playing wish fullfilment, then i ask lee,  "how come on nyc ghost and flowers last night you didnt go, "aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiive" (at the sonic/pearl show he didnt hold out the word alive as a note, he just spoke  it) and i guess jim and a few other heard the question and could tell he was a little embarrased and they laughed and he was just like "i dunno, thats how  things go sometimes."  I saw thurston a bunch there but i was just too afraid to really say much, or i didnt really know WHAT to say.  I talked to jim and told him how much i thought of what he added to the band.  Then they all left (and so did me and my friend) and we ran back into lee right before he left and my friend said, " yeah you need to play wish fulfillment, its a great track" and lee said "yeah..its great...we might", and my friend mentioned he (himself) was drunk (i was just kinda laughing most of the time) and lee said "youre drunk now? (looks at  his watch" and i just laughed and so did my friend then lee left  and we decided we had nothing better to do and since we kinda knew where they went (cause we were "kinda" eavesdropping), we decided we'd go there,  there being a bookstore called ...something...i forgot....something with a B.....anyways...we go there and lee is not there but thurston is and i see him talking to  a few people who worked there (who were fans) and i walked over and he like stared at me for a sec then i started looking at books.....for the longest time  i attempet no communication and just read (even though thurston was like 2 feet away), lee and jim eventually came (and that short dude) and at one point we and my drunk friend were standing in a little corner of the store and lee and jim came by and lee just kinda looked at us for a sec then said to jim "that guys drunk" i forgot what else but we talked for a sec.....then we decided what the hey...lets follow our FAVORITE FUCKING BAND IN THE WORLD some  more....as lee was leaving he pulled out (of his parking spot) and kinda sat there for a sec and i went up to him (he was in a mini-van with the windows down and california license plates (why??)) and waited for him to turn down his stereo blaring "shaft" and asked him if there would be sonic merch for sale at the show and he said yeah and said that the merch at the pearl show was fucking expensive...i forgot what else...probably something about them being great and seeing him at the show..who knows".....we tried to follow him again but he turned around real fast and we lost him.........ill post part two later...IM FUCKING TIRED...

 - lee
 

"I SAW SYR IN MEMPHIS!!! continued!!!"
posted on alt.music.sonic-youth by: Lee (kicksexoutthevan)

i then went to that last place and met this dude named travis who was really cool and we hung out side the front doors (where the band enters at this club) and listened to a soundcheck of tom violence and nevermind (they played that at the pearl jam show if i did not mention it) oh yeah....before that ( i got some of this on tape) the summer of youth dudes interviewed me and my (now-un-drunk from excitedness) friend and lee pulled up in his minivan and started taking pictures of the city and i thought he was done and i asked him about the tuning he used on the lee/hooker album he put out (he kept taking pictures) and said something like i have no clue and tunings are like that...oh and at some point (i have this on tape hehe) he took like 3 pictures of me and my friend, and my other friend matt and that travis dude and i flipped him off (i know its lee but im finger happy and punk)...i saw kim walk  in and i said hi but she just kept going without a glance....oh yeah...when the summer of youth was  interviewing me steve came by and i somehow interjected into my sentence "like this guy here (motioning to steve who was walking behind me on the sidewalk outside), hes a great fucking drummer", anyways...the show FINALLY started like 4 fucking sweat drenched hours later..they opened with thurston doing psychic hearts (ID KILL THE BASTARD IF I COULD) with lee, jim and steve...he used a dorky lyric sheet too....next was thurston 12 string shit that was absolutley beautiful...next was eddie vedder and jim who were soon joined by lee doing poetry from dirty windows (i knew cause that was what the notebook he was reading from said) eddie did awesome in my opinion, some guy in the crowd said "hey everybody, its eddie vedder"..and eddie just gave such a fucking go to hell look..i honestly felt sorry for him cause i think he really loves sonic youth and is probably a little intimidated by the whole situation...anyways, next was jim solo shit which was awesome...then kim steve and jim ...i believe it might have been syr5 shit...noone else knew...but it was really good..kim is great........ then came sonic youth proper..YEEEEEESSS!

 they open with tom violence which was just beautiful and i just wanna say again that jim does not clutter anything up or get in the way...he knows the songs very well and is a great addition....i do wonder if he is in standard tuning when he played guitar..anyone?

 next was bull in the heather (is it just me or does thurston play the opening part differently than the album?) they totally rocked our that song (yeah i think they did add a verse) ...(by the way i had a really good view..left- center)

 then free city rhymes which was great (kim is beautiful...sorry...im watching the vid) lee used a fender 12 string on this.

 nevermind , to which jim added bass (im not sure what i think of that but i didnt give a care about it)

 side2side on which lee used a DIFFERENT 12 string , jim on bass, and made some awesome noise.

 hoarfrost which i was horribly happy to hear, but they did i different version which was interesting...i loved, jim on bass again

 small flowers crack concrete....it sounded totally different at the begining, but the rest was the same...FUCKED UP IN CLEVELAND....oh yeah..the new york vids in the background TOTALLY added to the mood.

 kool thing was next...KIM GORDON IS SOOOOO HOT! HER SEXY DANCE! WOW!....HEHE....yeah ...she was ultra sexy on this song.....jumping around and all...she talked about something during the break part but i couldnt figure it out...she kept smiling..so fucking cute...she rubbed up on thurston and jumped on him..then she attacked roberts camera but i got a extra great close up shot though....

 next was nyc ghosts....lee was great on this and they made WONDERFUL WONDERFUL NOISE ...it was really cool they made noise for a while then lee counted off the end noise section.......

 encores:
 schizophrenia
 100%

 lee and jim signed my syr3 cd, and i told steve we should jam sometime and i tried to give him my phone# but he said send a tape....... as sonic youth drove up ( i had my shirt off) i rubbed my belly at them and they waved...eddie rode off with them in the mini-van

 ILOVESONICYOUTH
 -LEE
 

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! (or, Memphis SYR show...)"
posted on alt.music.sonic-youth by: Robert Traxler

i should start w/ a setlist, but i didn't write it down and i'd haveta do it from memory
 until i watch the video i took...i could try but i don't wanna mess it up...i'm sure someone
 else can fill in until then...but as for the show: OH MY FUCKING GOD THAT WAS THE
 GREATEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN...(i'll try to suppress the childish excitement from
 here out...) i took my video camera, 2 1/2 batteries, and more than enough tapes and did
 not miss a single moment of the whole thing...i also brought my microphone and had my
 friend hold it...i should watch it to make sure it all turned out okay, but for now i'll just
 have my fingers crossed...we got there about 6...the Summer of Youth guys interviewed
 us before...it was cool being remembered...we were the first ppl to form the line outside
 the club before it started...and we were front and center to the stage...so after waiting
 about 2 hrs outside and then 2 hrs inside the show started...i won't go into every detail of
 what was played until i watch it again and Chris has already accurately posted what all
 the "sets" were like...and, yes, Eddie Vedder did play on the one of the sountracks parts
 and durring Lightnin'...he was doing some really cool ebow stuff...oh, and it was SO
 fucking hot! Thurston made 2 comments about it being like Africa...everyone was
 drenched in sweat...it was like a fucking oven in there...another cool thing: they did 2
 encores...the first one was Lightin' and Schizophrenia...then they came back out and did
 100%...i'm sure there're all these other cool details that i'm missing out, but my mind's
 still in a bit of a frenzied blur...but the coolest thing: durring Kool Thing, Kim attacked
 my camera!!! she got all up and hit it...it was REALLY cool...and i was able to sing along
 into her mic for a split second...it was the coolest thing ever! after that some guy was all
 like "you're a lucky man" or something to that effect...i'm still really excited, i can't
 wait to watch the video...and i didn't even recognise Eddie at first, he all has a beard...and
 he was playing good music, it threw me off...that was just an incredibly amazing show...i
 still can't get over it...okay, i'm gonna try to do a setlist anyways: (pardon
 inaccuracies...)

 Tom Violence ("this one's dedicted to DJ Tom Violence, it's called Tom Violence")
 Bull in the Heather
 Free City Rhymes
 Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)
 Side2side
 Hoarfrost
 Kool Thing
 Small Flowers Crack Concrete
 NYC Ghosts & Flowers
 encore 1:
 Lightnin'
 Schizophrenia
 encore 2:
 100%

 i'm pretty sure a good bit of the order's off...i don't THINK i'm missing anything although
 i could be missing one song maybe...but i'm *pretty* sure not...please feel free to
 correct any mistakes i made, anyone...if no one does, then i'll post the accurate setlist
 after i watch the video...not sure when i'll be able to since i'll be in Nashville
 tomorrow...maybe tomorrow night, maybe the next day at latest, hopefully...sorry i've
 been going on so long and repeating so much information...but i'm still in a completely
 transcendent state (of sorts...) or just really excited...something like that...i guess i'll
 stop now...hopefully i can get to sleep soon so i can wake up for tomorrow's drive in good
 time...if i left any wonderful pieces of information out, then i can always post later...
 -robert

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