Gig played on 05/09/06

It's a sight that's familiar to any long-term Yo La Tengo fan. Ira Kaplan - a small, intense, wirey haired man, apparently cryogenically frozen in his late twenties by the benevolent powers of indie rock - is coaxing several shades of epic noise from his guitar, and gives every indication that he'll be doing more of the same for the next ten minutes or so. In the past, this has been the make-or-break point of the YLT live show - the moment where Kaplan's often strayed into tedious self-indulgence - but tonight he remains clear and focussed, building "The Story Of Yo La Tengo" to a glorious climax. The applause is rapturous and it feels like the end of a thrilling night. But it's 8.53pm. The performance has only just begun.

Possibly because Kaplan got it out of his system early on, or possibly because they have a superb new album's worth of songs to show off, or possibly because they no longer feel like a band trying to prove a clever-clever point, but this is a dream Yo La Tengo show. On this evidence, they've finally become the band that they (and Sebadoh, for that matter), always dreamed of being: eclectic yet emotional, as much at home with finger-clicking soul and indie-pop reverie as they are with expansive noise and feral punk, an art rock revue that can really go anywhere. In the past, they've succumbed to archness and self-indulgence in their quest to be the superior indie rock experience, but tonight they just crack a few jokes and get on with it.

That exceptional new album helps, of course. From the inspirational low-key soul groove of "Mr Tough" to the far-seeing jangle of "Race Is On Again" and the Papas Fritas-style perfect pop of "Weakest Part" (not to mention the gentle Belle & Sebastian-like brilliance of old favourite "Season Of The Shark"), the set is happy to rely on tiny subtleties. And when the noise level does leap up again and Kaplan straps on his stern indie rock god look, it feels like part of a natural progression - an understandable outburst of noise after the more refined explorations in pop. The fact that one of those outbursts is "I Heard You Looking", easily the band's high water mark, is another boon, of course.

They encore with two tributes to Arthur Lee. The first, "A Message To Pretty", is a fragile, beautiful half-there track that has Kaplan sighing "I don't need you to help me find my way". The second, a fuzzed-up, Beatles-tribute, sees Kaplan howling about a girl in a red dress, and the whole band "whooo"-ing like Threetles caught in a storm of feedback. Somewhere between the two songs, they neatly sum up what the last twenty odd years of their lives has been all about. Looks like Genius + Love does equal Yo La Tengo, after all.

by Ian Watson