A free concert at New York’s River 2 River Festival on July 4 saw headliners Sonic Youth unleash an intense performance,

which Thurston Moore kicked off by charging the photographers in front ofthe stage with his guitar. Moore sent them stumbling, his guitar cord wrapped around several ofthem like a giant, feedback-generating lasso (more on this below).

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Why was Moore so angry with those photographers? An article I readlast week but, frustratingly, can’t seem to find today may have hadsomething to do with it.

That article included Sonic Youth on a list of bands that shouldcall it quits, citing Kim Gordon’s age as a factor. I really wish I

could find it in order to point out how misguided the article was, butmaybe it’s better not to send people there anyway,

because it was obviously designed to draw attention by making preposterous claims.

Moore’s comments convinced me that he was upset with thepress/photographers in the front section because of that article’stwisted logic. He introduced Kim Gordon by saying, "I don’t wanna…

Kim Gordon, the most beautiful woman in (inaudible)." Then, in betweenencores, he said, "This song’s for all the old people. Old as gold."

As ludicrous as that article was, fans might have ample reason to keep Thurston Moore angry,

considering how he played on Friday: as if his band depended on it.

The band kept the rainclouds mostly at baythroughout their late afternoon set using some of their most powerful material (standouts included "Bull in the Heather" and "Silver Rocket," streamable below), made even stronger by Moore’s stormy mood.

The below photo gallery shows how the afternoon played out (opening band: The Feelies), including oneblurry shot taken shortly before Moore stepped on our photographer’sfoot during the fracas:

Bull in the Heather – Sonic Youth

The crowd bats around beach balls in anticipation. Lee Ranaldo would soon give one of these a pretty solid boot from the front of the stage:

All photos: Ria Fuentes

Kim rocked a snake print dress, Thurston a red guitar, white shirt, and blue jeans for this Fourth of July show. If it wasn’t already clear from my description above, Sonic Youth was on fire:

A man on a mission:

The calm before the storm:





Things start to go haywire… much jostling as Moore draws near the photographers:

It’s on:

With a group of photographers ensnared in a big loop of guitar cable, Moore rocks out and grinds his guitar against the edge of the stage. According to our photographer, the photographers all had "giant smiles on their faces" as this was going on, and nobody seemed to have been injured or anything like that. However, Moore did step on our photographer’s foot, and her hands were still shaking from the encounter fifteen minutes later:

Moore gets a helping hand back onto the stage:

Silver Rocket – Sonic Youth

No harm, no foul; Lee Ranaldo, Mark Ibold and Thurston Moore crack up following Moore’s foray into the audience:

Pavement’s Mark Ibold guested on bass — seen here with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley to the right:

Kim Gordon rocks:

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