Sonic Youth and their pet project (no pun intended) Be Your Own Pet played a day/night double header yesterday at the 9:30 Club that showcased two generations of bands on one stage. I was lucky enough to score tickets to the first show, which started around quarter ’til seven and was over before last night’s Mavs / Heat tilt tipped off.

Despite seeing Sonic Youth numerous times over the years, mostly at fesitvals like Lollapalooza, a few Tibetan Freedom Concerts and maybe a Reading/Leeds, this was the first honest to goodness club show of theirs I can remember attending. The setlist (which is after the jump) consisted mostly of newer material culled from their latest record Rather Ripped (stream it), with a few old nuggets thrown in to satiate their mad-for-it fan base. Kim Gordon spent most of the show jumping around the middle of stage, no small feat in the heels she was wearing. Thurston Moore told the crowd it was “always nice to play a hardcore matinee in DC” and then regaled the crowd with tales from the band’s breakfast at the Florida Avenue Grill. “The grits were…historical,” he said wistfully. It was also nice to see bassist Mark Ibold, formerly of indie darlings Pavement, taking a break from his bartending duties at the Great Jones Cafe in New York City to play bass on this tour. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that felt this way. You could hear the occasional shout of “Wowee Zowee” and “Summer Babe” inbetween songs. Rumor has it Bob Nastanovich and Steven Malkmus were in attendance last night, but I can’t confirm it. Musically, the Youth are as tight as ever and even though they are getting older, they are also getting better. This show went along way in proving why the band are so revered and respected in the music community.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson