A Rare Live Recording From Sonic Youth is Set for Release Next Year

Sonic Youth has announced the upcoming release of Hold That Tiger, a rare live recording from their October 1987 performance in Chicago. Set to be released on February 7, 2025, via Superior Viaduct, the album was initially issued as a semi-bootleg and will now receive an official release. Fans can pre-order it in CD and 2x LP formats, with black and clear vinyl variations available.

The recording features an introduction by the late Steve Albini, who introduced the band onstage at the Cabaret Metro that night. Interestingly, the album cover does not feature Sonic Youth but instead showcases Bob Bert and Julie Cafritz of Pu**y Galore. Hold That Tiger captures a set performed four months after the release of Sonic Youth’s Sister album and includes tracks from Sister, earlier material, and four consecutive Ramones covers.

Sonic Youth's First Decade - Burning Ambulance

Image Courtesy: Burning Ambulance – Substack

Kim Gordon recounted to Rolling Stone that Albini initially couldn’t attend the show due to being banned from the venue for a prior altercation. The band intervened and insisted their friend be allowed entry, ultimately convincing the venue to relent and allow him inside.

Albini, who passed away on May 7, 2024, from a heart attack, was known for his influential work as a producer and engineer on iconic albums like Nirvana’s In Utero and Manic Street Preachers’ Journal For Plague Lovers. He also played in bands signed to Touch and Go Records, including Big Black, which joined the label in the mid-1980s.

–Silviya.Y

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