Beach House are taking it back to basics this week. On Monday night, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally played without their backing band at the Philadelphia venue Johnny Brenda’s. The show was announced at the last minute, and it included a bunch of live debuts and rarities. Kurt Vile opened. Then, last night, Beach House made the trip up to New York to open for Yo La Tengo.

Yo La Tengo are nearing the end of their annual run of Hanukkah shows at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. As is customary, YLT have packed their sets with covers and surprise guest appearances. On Sunday, they played with fellow New Jersey indie greats the Feelies. On Monday, they brought Ben Gibbard to the stage to cover Hall & Oates, the Cramps, and Gibbard’s band Death Cab For Cutie. Last night, Beach House, playing as a duo once again, served as openers, and they performed a bunch of the same songs that they did in Philly. Then, during the encores, Victoria Legrand joined Yo La Tengo.

For their encore, Yo La Tengo played a mini-set of Velvet Underground covers, which is nothing new for them. (YLT have covered a lot of VU songs over the years, and they did “Sister Ray” with the Feelies on Sunday.) Comedian and longtime Yo La Tengo buddy Todd Barry, who also opened last night’s show, played drums on the band’s version of “We’re Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together,” and the band also took on “She’s My Best Friend” and “I Heard Her Call My Name.” At the end of the night, Victoria Legrand came out to sing lead on a hypnotic version of the classic “Pale Blue Eyes.” You can see a bunch of videos from last night’s show in the Instagram below; the “Pale Blue Eyes” cover is the ninth slide.

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