On a dreary evening in Brazil, atop a giant festival stage while being telecast on South American television, Sonic Youth awkwardly played its final show. The hour-long recital on November 14, 2011 was a gloomy finale to a glorious career.
Neither Kim Gordon nor Thurston Moore, the post punk mom and dad of Grunge, looked at each other. They were divorcing after nearly 30 years of marriage due to the fact that Moore was having an affair with his book editor who was 20 years his junior, and then refused to split up with her despite counselling and what would be the demise of the band, one of alternative music’s most respected and influential groups.
Gordon told Elle the affair her husband maintained for years was part of a midlife crisis with a “starstruck woman.” Adding, “Thurston was carrying on this whole double life with her. He was really like a lost soul.”
Leading up to that final show at the SWU Music & Arts Festival, Sonic Youth had produced 16 studio albums. They paved the way for noisy groups from Dinosaur Jr. to Nirvana, and were one of the first art rock post-punkers to sign a major record deal.
read more at: Setlist.fm