Steve Wildsmith

In writing this week’s piece on the band Yo La Tengo (performing Tuesday, Sept. 22 at The Bijou Theatre in downtown Knoxville), I got to remember the last time I spoke with the band. Specifically, with guitarist/songwriter/singer Ira Kaplan. Even more specifically, about a 2004 concert at the now-defunct Blue Cats that ended in a lot of perplexed fans and buzz among local scene-goers that the group was antagonistic, etc. (Those scene-goers still haven’t forgotten that night: It’s the subject of a thread on local bulletin board Knox Blab, a favorite site of mine.)

In that 2007 interview, Ira told me about that infamous performance, and so for those of you who may have missed it in print, I reprint part of that story for you here …

Published: Jan. 25, 2007

The members of Yo La Tengo are not afraid of you, Knoxville. And yes – act up again, and they will beat your ass.

OK, not really. But it is fun to think that the critically acclaimed indie rock trio named its most recent album – last year’s “I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass” – after the concert that went awry the last time the band played in East Tennessee.

That was in October 2004, on the band’s “Swing State Tour.” It’s a tour, a night, that Yo La Tengo co-founder/vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Ira Kaplan remembers well. The venue – Blue Cats, in Knoxville’s Old City. The plot – hilarity, animosity and general weirdness.

“It was a weird night, for sure,” Kaplan told The Daily Times this week. “We had had great experiences in Knoxville previous to that, so I think that was part of what made the last one so weird.”

The band took a lot of flack from fans in attendance for the show, some of them dismayed by what they perceived as Kaplan’s antagonistic attitude. However, according to Kaplan’s version, he had good reason to get irate.

“We had no opening act, and we were doing this long show that changed every night,” Kaplan said. “Every show involved guest musicians and a comedian, and basically it was like a two- to three-hour show. We would come out with whomever the guests were that night, start playing, introduce the comedian before we took a break and then go back out. We never had a setlist; we’d just play each other’s songs.”

In attendance on the stage that night were members of Lambchop (the band opening for Yo La Tengo at Saturday’s Bijou Theatre show); New Zealand singer-songwriter David Kilgour; and singer-songwriter Sue Garner, among others. The comedian was Todd Barry, who entertained between sets.

“Todd was the comedian, and when he came on – and I don’t even know why – somebody threw a glass of ice at him, which was pretty dismaying,” Kaplan said. “If it had been a normal show, maybe we would have cut it short, but since it was the one and only opportunity to play with that particular group of people, we wanted to make the most of it. It was a really cool lineup, and typically any single night on that tour was different from any other night, so we were very excited to be playing with that group of people.

“And so I did something I’ve never done before, and something I presume I’ll never do again. My feeling about shows is that if the audience isn’t with you, you’re probably doing something wrong. I’m not big on telling people to be quiet no matter how much we want them to be quiet. Don’t get me wrong; I love it when the audience tells other members to be quiet. That’s fine with me. But that night, I did say that we wanted people to be quiet or leave, and I did say that I don’t care which one you choose.

“It was definitely a weird atmosphere, and I’m sure we contributed to it somehow, but I really don’t know what we did to make that happen,” he added. “We ended up having a great time playing, because that atmosphere seemed to charge things, and right after I said that, there was some really long, exciting song. It was a memorable night, that’s for sure.”

ADDENDUM: Bassist James McNew, when reminded of that 2004 show during a phone interview with us on Tuesday, kept his comments brief: “I’ve always enjoyed coming to your city — even after that night, that Blue Cats night, which kind of went off the rails in some ways,” he said. “I still carry that as kind of a fond memory of how we stuck together.”