Tuesday Night Live: Ana Gasteyer Among Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah Show Guests

Yo La Tengo resumed their 2025 Hanukkah run last night with their third of eight consecutive performances celebrating the Jewish holiday at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom. Keyboardist Joe McGinty (Loser's Lounge, Psychedelic Furs), actress/vocalist/comedian Ana Gasteyer and Scrawl's Marcy Mays and Sue Harshe each joined the trio as part of the Tuesday night concert.

Columbus music scene institution Scrawl and Gary Gulman were the surprise opening act and comedian, respectively. Joe McGinty spent the night backing Yo La Tengo on all but one of 21 songs played.

YLT kicked off their main set with I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One standout “Center Of Gravity.” Guitarist Ira Kaplan, bassist James McNew and drummer Georgia Hubley, assisted by McGinty, then ran through “Forever,” “Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House,” “All Your Secrets,” “Damage” and “Apology Letter.” A take on Gary Lewis & The Playboys’ “Everybody Loves A Clown” became the first cover of the night to make the setlist.

The band moved forward with a career-spanning run of originals “If It’s True,” “The Crying Of Lot G,” “Artificial Heart,” “Drug Test,” “Shaker,” “Double Dare” and “Decora.” Yo La Tengo ended the main set with a well-jammed, noise-laced version of “Little Honda,” a song recorded in 1964 by The Beach Boys and The Hondells that has been a staple of the trio’s live repertoire since the mid-1990s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLllu_MNNbY

As always, the guest-filled encore was devoted to covers of songs written by Jewish songwriters. Marcy Mays and Sue Harshe were on hand to open the bonus set by leading Yo La Tengo through The Velvet Underground’s “We’re Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together” and Paul Revere & The Raiders’ “Kicks.” The former was the only selection of the night performed without Joe McGinty.

Ana Gasteyer of Saturday Night Live fame was the next guest to appear as she took the vocal reins from the Scrawl co-founders on the Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt and Gus Kahn co-write “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” and Burt Bacharach’s “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me.” All of the evening’s guests loaded the stage for show-closing renditions of “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree” and “Silver Bells” to punctuate night three.

Watch more audience-shot footage of last night’s festivities captured by Chad Sclove below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmPdiPPwpLQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCXSDldCc3M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvpaBeghMJs

Setlist (via Frank & Earthy)

Set: Center of Gravity, Forever, Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House, All Your Secrets, Damage, Apology Letter, Everybody Loves A Clown (Gary Lewis/Snuff Garrett/Leon Russell), If It’s True, The Crying of Lot G, Artificial Heart, Drug Test, Shaker, Double Dare, Decora, Little Honda (The Hondells)

Encore: We’re Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together* (Velvet Underground), Kicks* (Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil), Dream A Little Dream Of Me** (Fabian Andre/Wilbur Schwandt/Gus Kahn), (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me** (Burt Bacharach/Hal David), Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree*** (Irwin Levine/L. Russell Brown), Silver Bells (Jay Livingston/Ray Evans)***

Notes:

Whole show (minus “We’re Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together”) with Joe McGinty on keyboards

• * – with Marcy Mays & Sue Harshe of Scrawl on vocals
• ** – with Ana Gasteyer on vocals
• *** – with Ana Gasteyer, Marcy Mays and Sue Harshe on vocals