Did you rewatch This Is Spinal Tap last night? I did. It just seemed like the thing to do. Spinal Tap director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found murdered on Sunday. Their son Nick has been arrested, and Donald Trump has done his best to make it all about him. It’s all so sad and fucked up, so it was watch Spinal Tap or doomscroll. I mostly stuck with the former. (Reiner’s Spinal Tap collaborators posted tributes.) The members of Yo La Tengo couldn’t rewatch Spinal Tap because they’re just starting their annual Hanukkah residency at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, but they did the next best thing and covered a song from the movie.
Yo La Tengo just started their Hanukkah residency on Sunday night. On that first night, they saluted Ace Frehley by covering “New York Groove.” Last night, Yo La Tengo unexpectedly found themselves paying tribute to Rob Reiner, a different Jewish songwriter who we recently lost. Reiner wasn’t typically a musician, but he and the actual Spinal Tap members co-wrote all the songs on the soundtrack. Technically, they didn’t cover Spinal Tap. They covered the Thamesman, Spinal Tap’s original incarnation, and took on their mid-’60s song “Gimme Some Money.” That’s a banger.
The surprise openers at last night’s Yo La Tengo show were Built To Spill, their co-headliners on a 2025 summer tour, along with comedian Alex Edelman. BTS leader Doug Martsch joined Yo La Tengo for a pretty good portion of last night’s show. He played with them on “Last Days Of Disco,” “Barnaby, Hardly Working,” “Nothing To Hide,” and “Ohm.” Martsch also sang lead on a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin.”
“Heroin” ended the main set. Yo La Tengo’s version of “Gimme Some Money” was the first encore. They followed it with another Velvet Underground cover, “She’s My Best Friend,” and then closed out with Martsch rejoining them for Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman.” Check out some videos of last night’s show below.
