Starting in 1992 until this date in 2001, almost all of our Madrid shows happened at a venue called Revolver. It is common that clubs will schedule late-night discos for after the concert, but only Revolver started the evening with the disco, and a goth disco at that. We would arrive at midnight, loading our equipment down the same stairs that the dancers were using to exit, set up, sound check, and start our set 2-ish. I’m not sorry we’re no longer on that schedule, but the shows were always great. (We ended a European tour there in 1995, and rather than spend an hour or two in a hotel, we went straight to the airport, and catnapped on our luggage. As we checked in for the flight home, the smartly dressed ticket agent looked at us and said “I guess you are very tired,” and then pulled out his ticket stub from just a few hours earlier.) April 3, 2001 is a Sunday, so we open with the theme from “The Simpsons.” When we spot someone in the audience wearing a bootleg President Yo La Tengo t-shirt, he’s brought on stage to model it, then we play him off by adding “Drug Test” to the set list. He returns to play maracas on “You Sexy Thing” during the encore, which also includes “Speeding Motorcycle” made into a medley as I salute the goths with a chorus of “Boys Don’t Cry.” And Cristina was there:
This was my 4th YLT concert but the first and only time I had to attend without the company of my beloved boyfriend, Fino. (He gave me Fakebook as a present when we started to date, c. 1996 – that’s how I learned about you.) You were fantastic, and I missed him even more the whole show because of that! Afterwards, I asked Ira for some autograph (why?? I don’t know, I guess I wanted Fino not to feel so bad for missing your show . . . with some piece of paper that could always remind him that he missed that show?? oh well . . .).
We’ve had the chance to see you again like 12-13 more times, to this day, always happily together.
He’s a musician and nowadays he also runs Libros de Ruido, the book collection that will publish “Big Day Coming” in Spain next May.
Happy 30th anniversary, dearestssss Yo La Tengo!!
