last updated: jul 22 '09 3:05am
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CURRENT SITE STATUS:
1326 shows / 1073 set lists
(sonic youth only)
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WANT TO COLLECT LIVE SONIC YOUTH SHOWS BUT DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START?

TRY HERE - an incredible collection of a wide variety of live sonic gigs from their entire career, with NO QUALITY LOSS. Woooo! So if you download any shows, which I encourage you to do (perhaps I'll post my list of favorites some day), please don't convert them to mp3/etc for anything other than your own convenience (in other words, don't fuck up shit that people worked very hard to preserve and provide to you at no cost with only the expectation that you respect their hard work, OKAY?)

The concert chronology is very pro-recording and eagerly endorses the distribution of live sonic youth material, particularly if you have any shows that you taped yourself, or know are not currently circulating. If there's no set list on this page, that's a good indication that the show may not be circulating. Please contact me if you have any recordings you think might be of interest!

PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES, FOR WE SHARE THE SAME INTEREST:

BUTTHOLE SURFERS LIVE DISCO -- Jimi's put a lot of work into thoroughly archiving the Butthole Surfers concert/studio recording history, and is the perfect guy to contact if you have any rare or uncirculated Butthole Surfers/assorted recordings or information. PLEASE help him out if you can. Even just memories help!

NIRVANA LIVE GUIDE -- Mike and Kris are true examples of what online historians should be, relentlessly seeking to discover and document any information pertaining to NIRVANA's concert history/recording material. If you have any rare or uncirculated Nirvana/assorted recordings or information that you could offer, please help them out. They've endlessly supported the communities of many bands with their efforts, including this very site.

Please see the LINKS section for more band references, these guys just work amazingly hard and any potential lead I can send their way is the least I can offer. Thanks guys!

NEWS & NOTES   (OLD NEWS...)

JUL 22 2009

all 2009 set lists added -- chile thru dallas (july 15) are taken from the band's sets and confirmed, tulsa onwards are taken from fan reports and may be inaccurate. confirmed sets for the 2nd half of the tour will be posted after oakland. til then, keep checking this thread.

these are some of the most exciting set lists i've seen from the band, with a record 42 different songs (!) being played so far...

if anybody's attending spokane/seattle/vancouver/portland, drop me a line and maybe i'll see you there!

JUN 15 2009

 been a long time since i did a daylight update... i feverishly attempted to update the 2009 page but am missing the dudingen set and some specifics on some of the other gigs done since the last update, so check it out and help a sick webmaster out...

then scope out this cool stuff! this Victorian is excited to finally have a set list/recording for SY's first Vancouver show: 11/10/88 .. big thanks to Matt Rogalsky! // also five ! new set list scans including a previously unavailable set courtesy of Lars Hennig: 08/27/91 11/18/92 11/19/92 04/09/96 07/10/02 -- huge thanks to Lars!

that's all for now.. cough cough..

APR 28 2009

 hi folks! hopefully some of you caught one of those amazing 'pre-eternal' european tour gigs this month, really killer set lists w/ the new tunes starting to filter in. some of y'all get to dig the new record today, and with the north american summer tour dates starting to be announced (follow sonicyouth.com for more details!), it's shaping up to be an exciting tour year. who knows where they might go... (well, next month they'll be in back in europe for a handful of shows at the end of month, after their promising headlining set at the no fun fest on may 16.) //anyway, new sets are up, stats too, stay tuned...

p.s. you are awesome: martin teofanovic, christophe demunter, patrick horn, gianna buccella, and all of the supercool forum folks!

APR 24 2009

 quick update w/ '09 sets + 2 cool new '85 set lists based on recently unearthed tapes. first: 04/02/85 Rotterdam - which I can now confirm is the source of the left channel on the 'Satan is Boring (supermix)' track released on the Flower 12". i'm pretty sure the right channel is taken from 04/26/85 Aylesbury but am waiting on confirmation. the second show is Ladbroke Grove - featuring the only known performance of a confusion-era song w/ steve! so dig those while we wait for more '09 sets! huge thanks to jimi and james for the tapes. see that butthole surfers link above? help him out if you can!

APR 10 2009

 happy easter! i took a moment to finally add the chile set list, but please take note of this thread and bookmark it for future reference, as you will likely see set lists there before you see them here. also, please take note of the new update on the main page in regards to 2009 in general. thanks!

JAN 12 2009

 happy new year! added all 2008 set lists + my entire backlog of poster scans, opening bands, and legitimately interesting items as detailed below. a lot of this stuff has been piling up for a while so it's nice to get it out there.. a HUGE thanks (of course) to mike ziegler + tristan ruellan + james burns + philip howell + nick jones + stepan mikhaylenko + thomas giezek + i have to be honest, there's so many people who contribute little bits of info that all got incorporated, it becomes hard to track. i really appreciate everything anybody takes the time to write me about, and do try to get it all included when i can. this update should include everything, so if you still see i'm missing something please let me know!

THINGS THAT WILL HAVE TO WAIT:

- set lists do need to be recounted/retallied but i think in general the stats are pretty accurate and up-to-date w/ only minor discrepancies here and there. still, i will recount them in the near future.

- i will be getting rid of the 'documentation' header and replacing it with, i think (feel free to suggest something better) 'memorabilia' -- this will include gig posters, ticket scans, photos from the show, and set list scans where possible. plus whatever else might fit under there. what won't be found here anymore is information about recordings of the show. i will leave that up to the experts:

  • THE SONIC YOUTH LIVE RECORDING DATABASE - Tristan Ruellan's meticulously detailed catalog of all known sources for live SY recordings, which is the perfect companion to this site for those who really want to explore the world of the collector/completist. amazing work!

    so, please refer to tristan's site for recording info. i'll get around to deleting that info off of my pages soon, as well as fixing the outdated e-mail address that still causes frustration on hundreds of pages...

    - i still really want to properly compile the 'city stats' page, so stay on the edge of your seats for that one...

    - oh, i was debating adding notations to the YEAR pages, such as "S" for set list, "M" for memorabilia, and "Q" for quotes (see 1991 for an example). it would be a quick way of referencing which shows have set lists or pictures, etc, which i know i often wish for. does it look too cluttered?

    - otherwise, enjoy the updates and start feeding me with information! (bonus points for handwritten set list scans.)

    01/13/83 - NEW SHOW w. poster
    06/11/83 - added SET LIST FRUSTRATION
    09/14/83 - added picture
    09/15/83 - added new poster
    10/29/83 - added SET LIST FRUSTRATION
    11/23/83 - NEW SET LIST
    06/10/84 - NEW SHOW + poster
    03/20/85 - added poster
    03/23/85 - changed KILL YR to FLOWER
    08/13/85 - NEW SHOW w./ SET LIST SCAN!
    11/09/85 - added opener + poster
    01/10/86 - NEW SHOW
    05/05/86 - added cancelled 05/07/86 show poster
    05/08/86 - added set list scan
    05/12/86 - NEW SET LIST
    05/18/86 - added link to pictures
    07/26/86 - switched date w/ 072786
    07/27/86 - added BURNING SPEAR
    11/15/86 - added venue
    04/27/87 - removed BRO JAMES
    06/12/87 - added poster
    07/04/87 - added poster
    09/13/87 - NEW SHOW
    10/13/87 - added poster
    10/22/87 - NEW SHOW
    06/24/88 - added openers
    09/29/88 - added ENTIRE SET except 'dog'
    10/06/88 - added poster
    11/03/88 - added SILVER ROCKET
    12/01/88 - added link to pictures
    02/12/89 - added venue
    02/??/89 - added opener + venue
    02/??/89 - added opener + venue
    04/02/89 - added link to pictures
    03/11/90 - NEW SET LIST
    08/09/90 - added openers
    08/11/90 - added set list scans
    08/23/90 - added ticket + ad
    08/24/90 - added ad
    08/25/90 - added posters
    09/02/90 - added set list scan
    09/10/90 - added poster
    09/24/90 - NEW SHOW w. SET LIST
    10/01/90 - added poster
    10/21/90 - added poster
    10/31/90 - added openers
    11/19/90 - added poster
    02/17/91 - added KILL YR IDOLS
    02/19/91 - added ENTIRE SET except 'eric'
    03/17/91 - NEW SET LIST partial
    04/13/91 - added poster
    04/19/91 - added poster
    04/20/91 - added poster
    08/20/91 - NEW SET LIST
    08/21/91 - NEW SET LIST except for EXPWY/TEENAGE + added ticket
    08/23/91 - added poster
    08/24/91 - added poster
    08/25/91 - added quotes + posters
    08/27/91 - added posters
    09/01/91 - added quotes + posters
    07/01/92 - NEW SET LIST
    07/04/92 - upgraded poster
    09/30/92 - added ad
    10/07/92 - added set list scan
    10/17/92 - added quotes
    10/21/92 - added opener + corrected venue
    10/24/92 - added quotes
    11/21/92 - NEW SET LIST
    11/29/92 - added poster + switched purr/schizo
    12/01/92 - added poster
    12/04/92 - added poster
    02/05/93 - added JC, YOUTH, SILVER
    02/28/93 - added DIRTY B, 100%, SHOOT
    ??/??/95 - added details
    11/17/95 - added poster
    03/21/96 - added ticket
    04/10/96 - added openers
    08/22/96 - added poster
    05/09/98 - added poster
    06/20/98 - added openers
    02/27/99 - upgraded poster
    07/02/99 - upgraded poster
    08/09/00 - added poster
    08/11/00 - upgraded poster
    08/23/00 - added poster
    08/29/00 - added poster
    09/01/00 - added poster
    05/05/01 - upgraded poster
    08/02/02 - added 2 posters
    08/05/02 - added poster
    08/07/02 - added poster
    08/17/02 - added poster
    08/21/02 - added 2 posters
    08/24/02 - added poster
    11/23/02 - added poster
    06/19/03 - added poster
    06/20/03 - added poster
    08/08/03 - added set list scan
    08/17/03 - added poster
    08/25/03 - added poster
    03/17/04 - added poster
    04/30/04 - added poster
    06/15/04 - added poster
    06/18/04 - added set list scan
    07/19/04 - added poster
    07/25/04 - added 3 posters
    08/19/04 - added poster
    08/20/04 - added poster
    10/17/04 - added set list scan + ticket
    10/23/04 - added poster
    06/03/05 - added openers and ticket
    04/21/06 - corrected venue
    06/27/06 - added poster
    07/08/06 - added opener
    12/13/06 - added opener
    12/16/06 - added opener
    02/16/07 - added opener
    06/02/07 - added openers
    06/15/07 - added openers
    06/16/07 - added openers
    06/18/07 - added opener
    06/19/07 - added openers
    06/23/07 - added openers
    07/07/07 - added set list scan
    07/21/07 - added poster
    08/23/07 - corrected venue
    08/25/07 - added TEENAGE oops, set list scan
    08/29/07 - added openers + info
    04/25/08 - added set list scan
    07/04/08 - added set list scan