3/4 of Sonic Youth reunited in NYC, as Kim Gordon sang Stooges with Dinosaur Jr in LA (watch)

Friday night (Dec. 6) was a pretty big night for Sonic Youth fans on both coasts. In NYC, 3/4 of the band–Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Steve Shelley–reunited on stage at The Stone during Thurston’s residency at the venue, which wraps up tonight (12/7). Those in attendance said they played an hour-long, improv noise set. To quote Sonic Youth expert and Our Band Could Be Your Life author Michael Azzerad, “Thurston, Lee & Steve from Sonic Youth played the Stone tonight; it was magical. Bob Dylan said one great thing about rock is that you can hear 1 second out of a passing car and know who it is. Only four people on the planet can make that SY sound. It was beautiful, even moving.”

Rolling Stone editor Simon Vozick-Levinson was also in attendance and said, “just saw thurston moore, lee ranaldo, and steve shelley play an hour of improvised instrumental noise, which for a SY fan like me is sort of like seeing 3/4 of the beatles jam. spellbinding! i saw two kim gordon solo shows in 2024 that were easily among the best things i saw all year. so was this. sonic youth is over, long live sonic youth.” See pics and a short video of the performance below.

And speaking of Kim Gordon, the only member of Sonic Youth’s longest-running four-piece lineup that wasn’t at The Stone last night, she was in LA helping out Dinosaur Jr at their Where You Been 30th anniversary celebration at The Bellwether. They covered The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” together, and Dino also once again brought MJ Lenderman out to join them on their own classic “In A Jar,” just like he did the night before. (They also did a different Stooges song with Mike Watt on night one.) It wasn’t the first time Kim sang “I Wanna Be Your Dog” with Dino, and it once again ripped. Watch below.

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