LCD Soundsystem, TVOTR, Interpol, Hold Steady & Yo La Tengo all have NYC residencies this month
BrooklynVegan turned 20 back in August and a lot has changed over the last two decades, including the landscape of the NYC music scene. The cool neighborhoods have have shifted, bands have broken up and gotten back together, and social media is an entirely different beast (we miss the innocent days of MySpace), but in some ways things feel very much the same. For example: five bands who were a huge part of our site in 2004 all have NYC residencies over the next month:
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio haven’t put on a record in a decade, but after a short set at a Fashion Week event and a surprise intimate TV Eye show last night, they’ll make their official return to the stage after over five years with four nights at Webster Hall starting tonight (11/25). In addition to TV Eye, they warmed up for the run with a Fallon appearance last week, and they’ve picked great openers for the Webster Hall shows: they’ll be joined by Museum of Love (for a DJ set) on 11/25, L’Rain on 11/26, Soul Glo on 11/29, and Bartees Strange (playing solo) on 11/30. The band released tickets over the weekend that you had to buy in person, but resale tickets may be available.
There’s been no talk of new TVOTR music, but frontman Tunde Adebimpe is working on a solo album for Sub Pop.
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LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem have been doing the NYC residency thing since 2017. Originally it was just at Brooklyn Steel (they were the first band to play the venue), but in 2023 they played four shows each at BK Steel, Terminal 5 and Knockdown Center. They had such a good experience at the latter — where they were able to have opening bands, after-parties and a Four Horseman natural wine pop-up bar — they’ve moved the entire 2024 run to Knockdown Center this year.
They just wrapped up the first weekend of shows, which were with openers Poolside, and have two more to go: December 5-8 with Gustaf and December 12-15 with Fcukers. LCD are a well-oiled party machine at this point; as a live band they’ve never been better with a fantastic light show to boot, and their sets include their new single “X-Ray Eyes,” which they also have limited-edition 12″ of at the merch booth. Tickets are still available to most shows (especially Thursdays and Sundays).
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The Hold Steady “Massive Nights”
Back in 2016, The Hold Steady announced three nights at Brooklyn Bowl to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Boys & Girls in America, and when those sold out, they added a forth. “It wasn’t even called ‘Massive Nights’ yet, that came later,” Craig Finn told us. “For us, the crazy thing was how many people travelled to Brooklyn and saw multiple shows. The evening before the Wednesday show, I met a couple that had travelled from New Zealand for the event. That made me feel like we were on to something.” The Hold Steady have continued to do it every year since — even in peak pandemic 2020 (they played an empty Brooklyn Bowl as a livestreams) — and the 2024 edition happens December 4-7 at Brooklyn Bowl. As usual you can expect different special surprise guest openers each night, unique setlists, exclusive merch, and more surprises. Tickets are available.
While they’re in town, they’ll also appear at Jesse Malin’s comeback benefit shows at Beacon Theatre on December 1 and 2, and earlier in the day at Brooklyn Bowl on December 7, they’ll perform and do a reading of their recent children’s book Stay Positive at The Rock and Roll Playhouse plays the Music of The Beatles and more.
For more, read Craig talk about 5 Great Massive Nights.
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Interpol
One of the foundational bands in the ’00s NYC Rock Renaissance, along with The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio, Interpol avoided the Sophomore Slump with 2004’s Antics, an album that might actually be better than their debut Turn on the Bright Lights. They’ve been celebrating on tour this year and thethree nights of shows at Brooklyn Steel are the penultimate dates of the trek. (They wrap things up in Philly just after Brooklyn.) At these shows, Interpol are playing Antics in full as the first set, followed by a second set featuring songs from the rest of their catalog. Each Brooklyn Steel show has a different opener: 12/3 with Lutalo, 12/4 with Monobloc, and 12/5 with Rough Francis. Some tickets are still available.
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Yo La Tengo Hanukkah 2024
Last but absolutely not least are Yo La Tengo, who have been celebrating Hanukkah with eight nights of shows since 2001, though they took a break after their hometown venue Maxwell’s closed in 2013. However, they brought the run back in 2017 at Bowery Ballroom, where it’s been ever since. Every show features many surprises but the format for each night is the same: things open with a surprise musical act and comedian, and they have gotten some huge names in both slots over the years. Then Yo La Tengo play a main set with no repeated songs over the eight shows, featuring other suprise guests as collaborators. (Sometimes its members of the opening act who join them, sometime not.) Then for the encore, they highlight a Jewish songwriter with more special guests.
Since the Bowery Ballroom era began, Sun Ra Arkestra have opened a show every year and Night 8 has always finished with Ira Kaplan’s mom, Marilyn, coming out to sing “My Little Corner of the World.” The rest is a surprise till you show up at Bowery Ballroom that night. These are always fun, special shows, and if you’ve never gone, you should rectify that. This year, Hanukkah is late (December 25 – January 1), which means this run will include a Christmas show and a New Year’s Eve show, so who knows what they’ll cook up. Last time there was a Christmas show they got ’80s/’90s indie rockers Christmas to reform just for that. Tickets are officially sold out, but YLT usually release tickets throughout the week, and all proceeds go to charity.
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What are you going to see between now and New Years Day?
