So much of the appeal of early Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the thrash of the music. Song after song, the art-punk band found a way to convert a maelstrom of pent-up energy into no-fucks-given liberation that soundtracked a generation of teen rebellions in the aughts. The freedom to let go was fueled, in part, by the kinetic powers of frontwoman Karen O, described once for her “reckless, whirling-dervish stage demeanor.” Her form of release was to rasp and howl as loud as she wanted, and she invited anyone listening to find catharsis by belting out some wild screams by her side.
And yet at the core of it all, slightly costumed up in the brash spirit of the band’s younger days, their discography is one with a softer pulse, with songs subtly constructed from a quiet sentimentality and a deft poetry in the lyrics. Maybe that’s why the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ current Hidden in Pieces Tour feels so special; it’s a bare-naked revelation of the intimacy and emotion that has always been there.
During a three-night run at the Beacon Theatre, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs brought the tour to New York City, where they first formed back in the 2000s. But in a departure from their days barrel-rolling into crowds at basement shows, this tour is a quieter one: The setlist, which includes some songs that are almost two decades old, is full of elegant reinventions of their music, and it emphasizes (as Karen O has said repeatedly) that “there’s nothing more punk rock than vulnerability.”
That meant the audience stared, entranced, at a stage filled with string musicians and an upright bass player, with drummer Brian Chase in the back and guitarist Nick Zinner mostly playing acoustic instruments. Karen took her place at the center in a twinkling robe, kicking off the set with a dreamy reimagining of the more recent cut “Blacktop,” from 2022’s Cool It Down. A little later, a cover of Bjork’s “Hyperballad” (a song Karen and Zinner used to play back in the day) was just as spellbinding as everyone watched, full of reverence, in pin-drop silence from the venue’s gilded aisles.
Edwina Hay*
The performance was designed to remind us that we’re made of flesh and blood and lots of feelings, so no one was unmoved: Everyone leaped to their feet when an ornate version of “Gold Lion” started, and they shouted the lyrics to “Cheated Hearts” in unison. (“Well, sometimes I think that I’m bigger than the sound.”) They kept singing together, louder and louder, as Karen launched into a stripped-back version of “Maps” that built slowly. “Y Control” got people to rage a little before the encore, and then the band came back for an ecstatic version of “Zero,” tossing eye-shaped beach balls into the audience.
Throughout the show, Karen called on people to keep their hearts open, even in “fucked-up times.” “It’s punk rock to be loved,” she declared at one point. For as much as this tour offers another sonic side of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, that emphasis on sincerity and intimacy isn’t so different from what’s always been in their DNA. Simply, they’ve urged us to slow down, take it in, feel a little more. We’re probably achier and more wrinkled 20-plus years later (hopefully a little wiser and more mature, too), but the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are still encouraging us to let it all out.
Set List
“Blacktop “(“In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” Intro)
“Miles Away”
“Gold Lion”
“Hyperballad” (Björk Cover)
“Cheated Hearts”
“Isis”
“Warrior”
“Runaway”
“Skeletons”
“Spitting Off the Edge of the World”
“Maps”
“Turn Into”
“Y Control”
Encore:
“Zero”
“Paranoid” (Black Sabbath cover) (Dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne)