Andrew Bird with Yo La Tengo. Photo via Yo La Tengo’s blog

Yo La Tengo closed their annual Hanukkah run at Hoboken, NJ’s Maxwell’s on Saturday night. Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake and Gaylord Fields opened the show, which benefited the Jersey Shore Relief (the members of Yo La Tengo attended Teenage Fanclub’s first US show). Blake also sat in with Yo La Tengo for almost their entire set, including covers of great Jewish songwriters like Carole King & Gerry Goffin (“Goin’ Back”) and Bob Dylan (“I Wanna Be Your Lover”), among others. He also helped the group through Teenage Fanclub’s “God Knows It’s True” and The Beatles’ “Eight Days A Week,” which Yo La Tengo regularly cover during their eight-night Hanukkah runs.

The show came to a close with a energetic encore that included a drum procession that led into Adam & the Ants’ “Antmusic.” As a nod to The Rolling Stones, who were playing a few miles away in Newark, NJ, Gaylord Fields joined the band for a medley of the Rice Krispies jingle and “Brown Sugar.” He remained onstage for a version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Little Red Book.” Like last year’s run, Yo La Tengo frontman Ira Kaplan invited his mother Marilyn onstage at the end of the night to sing on a run-closing cover of “My Little Corner of the World.”

If the band honored their inner circle and family on Saturday, then Friday’s performance celebrated the many big name indie rock bands Yo La Tengo has influenced during their career. New Jersey’s rising indie/punk group Titus Andronicus opened the night, and Andrew Bird sat in on violin throughout Yo La Tengo’s set. He also supplied lead vocals on a version of Jule Styne and Sammy Cohn’s “I Fall In Love Too Easily.” Later in the night, surprise guest and freak folk icon Devendra Banhart took the stage for a cover of Jorma Kaukonen’s “Song For the North Star.” Ha also sang with the group on a show-closing “If I Only Had A Match.”

Yo La Tengo will release their new album Face in January.

Here’s a look at this weekend’s setlist via Jesse Jarnow’s Frank & Earthy blog

Friday, December 14, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ

Everyday
One PM Again
How To Make A Baby Elephant Float
Last Days of Disco
Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)
Little Eyes
I Fall In Love Too Easily (Jule Styne & Sammy Cohn) (Andrew Bird on vocals)
When It’s Dark
I’ll Keep It With Mine (Bob Dylan)
Stupid Things
More Stars Than There Are In Heaven
Heroin (Velvet Underground) (Roky Erickson arrangement)

E:
Griselda (Antonia)
Song For the North Star (Jorma Kaukonen) (with Devendra Banhart on vocals)
If I Only Had A Match (Lee Morris, Arthur Johnson, & George W. Meyer) (with DB)

whole set with Andrew Bird on violin

Saturday, December 15, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ

Ohm
Did I Tell You
Cone of Silence
Goin’ Back (Carole King & Gerry Goffin)
Avalon or Someone Similar
Season of the Shark
Circling the Sun (Jonny)
Moby Octopad
I Feel Like Going Home
Walking On Ice (The Riot Squad)
I Wanna Be Your Lover (Bob Dylan) (with Don Fleming on guitar)
Evelyn Marble (Velvet Monkeys) (DF on guitar and vocals)
God Knows It’s True (Teenage Fanclub)
I Heard You Looking
Eight Days A Week (The Beatles)

E:
Antmusic (Adam & the Ants) (with Ira & James drum procession & audience drummers)
Rice Krispies Jingle/Brown Sugar (Rolling Stones) (with Gaylord Fields on vocals)
Little Red Book (Burt Bacharach & Hal David) (with GF)
My Little Corner of the World (Bob Hilliard & Lee Pockriss) (with Marilyn Kaplan on vocals)

whole set (minus “Ohm”) with Norman Blake on guitar, organ, and vocals