Marfa, Texas, might be the least rocking town on Earth. For starters, it’s in the Big Bend area of west Texas, seventy-four miles from the nearest interstate and a three-hour drive from the nearest city, El Paso. Marfa eerily resembles itself circa 1956, the year that the James Dean classic Giant was filmed there.
And yet it hosted what possibly was the greatest rock spectacle the west Texas hills have ever witnessed. Sonic Youth was playing a free gig as part of The Chinati Foundation Open House, an annual art exhibition that now draws more than 2,000 art and music zealots to this comatose little neck of the desert.
Marfa’s art scene began when minimalist sculptor Donald Judd moved there and started hosting an annual open house; it was an opportunity for the public to view his and a few other artists’ works in a natural environment. Now, twenty-one years later, it’s drawing visitors from all over the country.
Sonic Youth did not disappoint. The band took the stage at around 10 pm, playing in a cavernous warehouse with rusty I-beams, oversized ventilation fans, and poor sound quality. Guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo stood at opposite ends of the stage, and bassist Kim Gordon lumbered somewhere in the middle. From the first song, the gig was clearly an exercise in democratic noisemaking. Neither Moore, Gordon, Ranaldo, nor drummer Steve Shelley vied for much attention.
Nevertheless, Moore’s presence had an undeniable pull. He stayed locked in a downward stare for most of the set, shifting back and forth and occasionally bursting from his self-imposed trance. Kim Gordon, whose bass seemed like little more than an accessory, maintained her alluring aloofness.
The crowd, comprised of fans that presumably drove hours to see Sonic Youth, weren’t introverted hipsters prone to standing and staring at the group. This was a loud crowd. The bandmembers themselves were equally as enthusiastic, regardless of which song from which era they were playing.
– Mark Sanders
The Chinati Foundation: www.chinati.org
Sonic Youth: www.sonicyouth.com