Jenn Pelly, Author at SPIN

Ten years ago, Yeah Yeah Yeahs exploded onto the New York music scene playing sweaty basement gigs at DIY shows across the city, and introduced one of the decade's greatest new frontwomen, Karen O, who delivered a mix of feral energy and glitz that had long been missing from rock music. YYYs have since become one of rock's best new bands, but last night, at a tiny club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the trio returned to their roots with a taut, 14-song show celebrating their tenth anniversary. Check out video below! The gig, at Secret Project Robot, was undoubtedly the band's smallest in years and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs rewarded the packed, intimate crowd of 200 fans (who lined up for hours to score the coveted tickets) with loads of selections from their early catalog. Starting at 11 P.M., Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase tore through their entire 2002 EP Machine, ripped through "Art Star" and "Miles Away" from their self-titled debut EP, and touched on seven tracks from seminal 2003 debut, Fever to Tell. "Maps," the band's breakthrough single, was a clear highlight of the night. O's impassioned performance of the stunning ballad caused the audience to match her intensity. O, sporting a spandex-tight mini-dress emblazoned with a cross, was visibly touched by the crowd's reaction and reached out to touch fans in the front row. Yeah Yeah Yeahs raged until just after midnight, ending the set with a two-song encore: Fever to Tell's "Modern Romance" and It's Blitz's "Heads Will Roll," during which O shot confetti at the crowd and pounded her feet into the stage manically. At show's end, O showed her appreciation for the crowd's dedication — in her own quirky way, of course. "It's fucked up how sweet you guys are!" she said. WATCH: "Modern Romance"https://www.youtube.com/embed/oTyXx3udyYs?fs1 "Y Control"https://www.youtube.com/embed/jrlNThjilZ8?fs1 "Maps"https://www.youtube.com/embed/vXKrW9L_mys?fs1

Jenn Pelly

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