As many here recall, back in 1991, Sonic Youth opened for Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse on the 1991 WELD Tour. (Originally, Nirvana had been scheduled to open the tour but their label determined that Nirvana was no longer an opening band and moved into headliner status.)
From a review of the tour on March 20 at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on SLUG Magazine:
The only drawback would be the situation.
The band [ Sonic Youth ] had little audience response and this was expected. But I, and maybe 500 other Sonic Youth fans, spread sparsely throughout the Huntsman Center full of Neil Young fans, gave a positive response to what was a groundbreaking event for SLC’s alternative listeners as well as an eye-opening act for Neil Young fans.
Ear opening would be more like it, to put it mildy.
Full Concert Review of Sonic Youth, Social Distortion and Neil Young w/ Crazy Horseon SLUG Magazine
(Click photo to enlarge)
Sonic Youth & Neil Young: Tales From WELD Tour. (Be sure to check out those TW comments below post. Wouldn't want to miss a trip down memory lane by some of our inimitable TW commentators.)
Saw two separate shows from the tour and I was genuinely impressed with Sonic Youth. They were pushing boundaries in a unique way, as their sound structures tended to be anti formula. They used some creative approach’s to their perspective instruments as well, which reminded me a lot of some of early abstract classical works from Penderecki, Varese, and Stockhausen. They were serious about what they were doing and the music reflected that. For the time, it was probably a little more advanced than that particular crowd was primed for, but I loved it.
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Social Distortion, Sonic Youth, then Neil + The Horse. I've said this before here, and I'm sure I'll say it again, that was the loudest night of live music I ever saw. We were up close for the first two bands, and yes, Sonic Youth were VERY impressive. A very fascinating band that really never got the fanbase they deserved. Maybe just a little too hard and complex for the masses to fully comprehend. And they never had the pop sensibilities like a Nirvana or Soundgarden quite had, maybe why they never had huge mainstream success. I just recently listened to their "Sister" album, and it still holds up to my ears.
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