Love Songs And Monster Songs: Jad Fair's Favourite Albums | Page 10 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

9. NRBQAll Hopped Up

They’ve been around for years and years. I think they started around about 1972 or 73. I live in Texas now, but I had been living up north and NRBQ would do a lot of touring. You hear of Deadheads – people who travel around, seeing every show that the Grateful Dead did – I was pretty much that way with NRBQ. Any time they had a show in Washington DC or Baltimore, or pretty much anywhere, in Maryland or Pennsylvania, I would go to the shows. I’ve seen so many great live bands and NRBQ are the best live band I’ve ever seen.

You never know what’s going to happen, because they don’t use a setlist. They’ll play anything they feel like playing at the time. Yo La Tengo is kind of the same way. I’ve had a couple of tours with Yo La Tengo and each night it’s different. Most bands going on tour will have a setlist, which they’ll do every single night of the tour and maybe have one or two different songs for encore, but with NRBQ and with Yo La Tengo, it’s different every single night.

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