Jonathan Ganley | | 2 min read
Thurston Moore Band: Germs Burn
On January 17 1989, Sonic Youth played their first show in the southern hemisphere at the Powerstation in Auckland. I went along hoping to hear at least some songs from their earlier records, Sister and EVOL, both of which were favourites on Campus Radio BFM.
But there were no old songs on the setlist.
The band had moved on and they had a new record completed, but unreleased: Daydream Nation.
It would be easy with hindsight to say that this soon-to-be critically acclaimed LP sounded fantastic played live, but the truth is I didn't really get into the new music at all. I did take some photographs though, including this below one from the upstairs balcony.
REM were in Auckland that same month, and Sonic Youth seemed ready to break through to something bigger, just as REM had. But in the end it was Sonic Youth's protégés Nirvana who would eclipse them both.
There are more photos from the 1989 Sonic Youth show on my photoblog here.
A few days ago -- Thursday December 3 -- Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth played the Tuning Fork in Auckland with his new band which included former-SY drummer Steve Shelley, bassist Deb Googe (formerly My Bloody Valentine) and second guitarist James Sedwards.
As is the custom, photographers were only allowed to be there for the first three songs. Not that it was a problem, the opening one Forevermore was 10 minutes long.
Here's Sonic Youth photographed in '89 and after that a series of shots at the Thurston Moore Band show.
Thurston Moore Band, 2015
Jonathan Ganley is an Auckland photographer and writer whose has frequently appeared at Other Voices Other Rooms (see here). His work has covered many subjects, notably New Zealand musicians. Some of those portraits appeared at Other Voices Other Rooms here, and a gallery of his work is available at his websitepointthatthing.com All his photos are copyrighted, do not use without permission. He is planning to publish a book of his concert photos in 2016.
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