[[Sonic Youth]] leverede deres første liveoptræden til [[Noise Fest]], en noise-musikfestival organiseret af [[Thurston Moore]] på kunstarenaen [[White Columns]] i juni 1981.<ref>[[Simon Reynolds]], ''Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-punk 1978-1984'' (2006) Penguin</ref> Hver aften optrådte tre til fem grupper, herunder [[Glenn Branca]], [[Rhys Chatham]], [[Rudolph Grey]] og [[Robin Crutchfield]]s Dark Day.<ref name=Masters>[http://www.blackdogonline.com/all-books/no-wave.html ''No Wave''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114153805/http://www.blackdogonline.com/all-books/no-wave.html |date=14. januar 2009 }}, with a foreword by Weasel Walter (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007), {{ISBN|978-1-906155-02-5}} pp. 170-171 + photo with full list of band participants reproduced on p. 171.</ref>
Musik