Yo La Tengo

Town Hall, New York, March 23, 2017

- Rob Mitchum

SINCE Yo La Tengo turned 30 in December 2014, the band have spent a lot of time pretending to be someone else. Their most recent LP, 2015’s Stuff Like That There, was mostly acoustic covers in the style of 1990’s Fakebook. Since then, they’ve played limited-run gigs as The Velvet Underground, as the backing band for Robyn Hitchcock, and as performers of experimental composer Alvin Lucier.

A late March evening in Manhattan’s Town Hall finally presents the indie rock perennials with an opportunity to turn their reinterpretative powers selfward. Billed as And Then Yo La Tengo Turned Itself Inside Out, the night promises an expanded ensemble and an improvisational approach to songs from their voluminous back catalogue. Stocked with ringers from the experimental jazz world – including guitarist Mary Halvorson, Chicago Underground Duo drummer Chad Taylor, and free jazz pioneer Roswell Rudd – the forecast calls for severe freakouts.