Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lauren and I recently quit my job in music marketing to return to my first love: writing. BUST has been so kind as to allow me a venue for this time of rediscovering that music can actually be awesome and not just a product to be shoved down people’s throats. Currently my body is still sore from the combination of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s birthday show on Friday at Mercury Lounge and hanging out with BUST at the Maker Faire this weekend.
Friday marked the tenth anniversary of the first show the Yeah Yeah Yeahs ever played together in grand ol’ NYC and they had a special “friends and family” show (and “friends of friends” Karen O joked as she probably looked at people like me and had no idea who we were) to celebrate at the Mercury Lounge.
Dave Sitek (of TV on the Radio) has been a long time friend and producer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, so he was an apt choice for opening the night with his newly released project Maximum Balloon. For the album Sitek enlisted friends as vocalists on each track, including Karen O and Brooklyn it-boy Theophilus London. During Friday evening’s performance Sitek was joined by his DJ-mate Earl and by vocalist Aku from Brooklyn’s Dragons of Zynth. Aku picked up on my good vibes and came offstage to dance with me for a minute and then said “I think we got the crowd going a little more now…”
A little while and many celeb sightings later Karen O took the stage with a birthday cake on her head and an epic cape and exploded with energy, thankfulness and at one point even tears. The crowd reveled in the chaos and shoved and danced along to a classic set list. (see below)
At the heart of everything that has happened throughout these ten years the YYYs are still three nerdy kids who love to play music together and it’s nice to see that they’re still around and having fun after all these years.
SET LIST:
“Yeah New York!”
“Man”
“Date with the Night”
“Bang”
“Mystery Girl”
“Cold Night”
“Astronomer”
“Down Boy”
“Y Control”
“Maps”
“Our Time”
“Heads Will Roll”
