Live Review: Yo La Tengo

New Jersey's Yo La Tengo have never endured a late career slump, still producing quality records – latest release Fade is perhaps their best since their high-water mark in the late '90s – and playing excellent live shows. Lead singer Ira Kaplan is still a phenomenal artist in his own unassuming way, prying open ordinary urban lives and examining the contents using roughly hewn passages of guitar noise. Their current tour boasts the neat central conceit of two sets: Quiet and Loud, and explores a deep catalogue with satisfying results.

The Quiet set lets everyone settle in and establish their own headspaces. The gentle cosmic flow of Ohm sounded sublime in the concert hall, and every now and then we would glance up at the shimmering lights bathing the ceiling while we all melted away underneath. I'll Be Around and The Point Of It felt like warm blankets in winter, and for a while it almost seemed like we were bearing witness to a rare lull in YLT's live reputation as ferocious pop artists. Not so.

The Loud set was a heady mess of amorphous feedback and glorious noise art. Bassist James McNew remained steadfast in his loyalty to rhythm and tempo, anchoring Kaplan's wild machinations with help from Georgia Hubley, whose drum work never overheated, despite her husband's enthusiasm. Kaplan frothed over every inch of his guitar trying to find new ways to make noise. At one point he calmly offered it to a person in the front row, who squealed for a number of minutes while Kaplan got lost in his own intonations and chanting on stage.

The sounds he achieved with his guitar were elaborate and exciting, and even though he seemed poised to maim it several times he resisted any destructive impulses. It was fun rolling with the tension. The final 15-minute reverie was approaching unbearable, but, finally, Kaplan peeled away,the last metallic shrieks dying in the cool blue spotlights. A large portion of the crowd left immediately, not keen to endure an encore, but even they couldn't deny the incredible performance that pushed them to that state.