Watch: Yo La Tengo Welcome MJ Lenderman, Steve Shelley and More for Hanukkah Night Five

Last night, Dec. 29, Yo La Tengo returned to New York’s Bowery Ballroom for the fifth performance in its latest Hanukkah residency. The 2024 installment of the iconic series–which has been a staple of the indie innovators’ year-end plans since 2001–has already matched the esteem of previous years with an impressive list of guest appearances, including Fred Armisen on night two and a long-awaited reunion of Robyn Hitchcock’s The Soft Boys on night four. On Sunday, the band passed the halfway point in its eight-night run with another impressive bill, tapping MJ Lenderman and his backing band the Wind for an opening performance and Steve Shelley for a full-set sit-in.

Lenderman’s appearance arrived at the end of an unbelievable year of acclaim and artistic triumph, which included significant contributions to Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood and his own fourth solo studio album Manning Fireworks, both of which have been widely recognized among the very best projects from 2024. After his intro, the rapidly rising singer-songwriter and guitar dynamo joined Yo La Tengo to lead a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Something There Is About You” in the middle of the host band’s set. Shelley was present throughout the performance on a second drum kit, but switched over to electric guitar for a droning noise solo on YLT’s 1992 May I Sing with Me standout “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss”; the former Sonic Youth drummer’s contributions followed a particularly active fall, which included a recent reunion with bandmates Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo at The Stone in New York.

In keeping with the Hanukkah residency’s classic format, Yo La Tengo’s wider 15-song set and four-track encore avoided any repeats from previous nights and cut deep into the band’s four-decade discography. After opening with a segued medley of “You Are Here,” “Ohm” and “The Ballad of Red Buckets,” the indie veterans’ main performance featured highlights like “Last Days of Disco,” “Don’t Have To Be Sad,” “Nowhere Near,” “Drug Test,” “Sudden Organ” and “Sugarcube.” For its encore, the group tapped NRBQ’s Joey Spampinato and his wife Kami Lyle for a treatment of his own holiday classic “Christmas Wish” and “What Can I Say,” plus Lyle’s “Mambo” and “I Could Write a Book” from Rodgers & Hart’s 1940 musical Pal Joey. Jay Jurden took the stage early as the evening’s comedy guest, and all proceeds from the show went to advance the mission of Brigid Alliance.

Yo La Tengo will assume the spotlight at the Bowery Ballroom again tonight to add another light to the electric menorah taped to the bass amp. For more information on the band, visit yolatengo.com.

Watch a fan-recorded video of Lenderman and Shelley amplifying Yo La Tengo’s cover of “Something There Is About You” below.

@stevenhyden.bsky.social something there is about you featuring MJ, yo la tengo, Steve shelley

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— tinymontgomery.bsky.social (@tinymontgomery.bsky.social) December 30, 2024 at 1:06 AM