Recorded on the 14th of October 1987 at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, Hold That Tiger is one of the best concerts committed to tape.
The majority of the songs are from the Sister album with a few taken from its predecessor, EVOL, and one from the EP, Kill Yr. Idols. As this was an especially fertile period in Sonic Youth's development - indeed Sister is arguably Sonic Youth's best album - the setlist here is, as you can imagine, pretty impressive.
Sonic Youth, with the curtness and energy of a punk band, blaze through the seventeen songs of Hold That Tiger over the course of just under hour - this includes a four-song encore made up entirely of Ramones covers.
The sound on Hold That Tiger is particularly lo-fi, but this, far from this being a distraction, actually acts as a nice supplement to an already rough & ragged sounding Sonic Youth.
Originally written for Cosmicomics magazine and limited to 150 words.
Reviewed on Saturday, 9 July 2005