A(nother) Pavement Thread

[Alzado]

Has anybody caught Pavement on their current tour? I saw them Friday night at the Greek in Berkely, CA and it was amazing.

 

As it turns out, this was a great show to see them. They brought out Gary Young (their original drummer/legendary nut-case) for the last 6 or 7 songs and it was fantastic. I've seen them before, but never with Gary so it was a special treat. Pavement fans will understand why.

 

I highly recommend you see them on this tour if you can. It was a great, no frills show. They sounded great and were in great spirits. The crowd was pretty chill. I have 4 tickets for their show in central park NYC on Sept 21 that I cannot use. If anybody wants them, shoot me a p.m.

[noise]

there is nothing i can do to accurately express my envy.

[beerwolf]

I like to think (like most of you) that my sphere of music is quite wide. Beatles, Naplam Death, Black Sabbath, Funkadelic, Warp, Chuck Berry, King Crimson etc etc.

 

Without a doubt this band really confuse me because I think they are total codswallop (English slang for humungous pile of shit!). It's no diss on your behalf but seeing as a forum is about expressing opinions I thought I'd just mention it.

 

Feel free to disagree, but I won't be convinced LoL.

[noise]

oh my, how wide.

 

let me convince you: you're dumb.

[Alzado]

There are plenty of bands considered great by many that I personally just don't get. Of course, this doesn't mean they are bad. Rather, it simply means that, hitherto, i have been unable to isolate that strain of musicality in their work that others find so intoxicating.

 

Sounds like you're having that experience with Pavement. Pavement is a wonderful band, regardless of what you think.

[perunamuusi]

I wanted to see them on this tour and had an opportunity a couple of months ago when my mate had 3 spare tickets, but the gig clashed with something or other. The first thing I asked him was whether Gary had been playing with them. He hadn't. Then - did they do Jackals, False Grails? He wasn't sure.

 

I last saw them in Brixton around slanted enchanted era. Gary gave me some dry spaghetti in the foyer. He was wearing a Luton Town FC shirt which is the coolest thing ever.

 

It would've been nice to see them playing some tracks from crooked rain and wowie zowie though...

[Alzado]

They didn't do too many songs from the pre-S&E era save for Box Elder, which was great to hear live of course.

 

They didn't play too many S&E songs at all until the end. When Gary came out, I understood why. They went through Two States, Here, Summer Babe, and others with him on drums and Westie on rhythm guitar (who knows if it was even plugged in). Gary was pretty hilarious. During one song, he kept his hands over his eyes the whole time, moving his right periodically to hit the snare drum before quickly placing it back over his eye. He also kept trying to twirl his drum sticks and dropping them. Out of 6 or 7 attempts, he maybe caught the spinning stick once. After the encore, the rest of the band exited the stage while he wandered around like a crack head for 10 minutes.

[perunamuusi]

Ha. Excellent. I remember him throwing his right hand stick up in the air between snare hits. At least 10 ft up in the air. Needles to say he dropped them virtually every time, missing beats left right and centre.

 

Alzado, what was your average boner index during the gig? In which song did it peak, and at how high?

[Guest bigs]

seeing them in nyc in september... can't wait!

[Alzado]

Excellent question Ludd, thank you for the inquiry.

 

Pre concert jitters had my b.i. hovering at around 890. When they came out, and opened with Cut Your Hair, it understandably climbed to around 13,000. Cut Your Hair isn't my favorite Pavement song, but it was a great way to start the show in terms of the energy level of the crowd. As the show progressed, I settled into a pretty consistent b.i. of about 665, with the expected peaks that accompany such things as Malkmus changing the lyrics to songs in amusing fashion and the valleys that come with some loser standing in front of you with his arm around his obnoxiously drunk girlfriend.

 

The b.i. peak of the show however came during Range Life, wherein my b.i. spiked to 67,213. It was at this point that I soiled my trousers and was required to fling the fruits of my ejaculatings all over my fellow concert goers. I assumed that they did not mind as their boner indices were certainly peaking as well.

[perunamuusi]

The b.i. peak of the show however came during Range Life, wherein my b.i. spiked to 67,213

 

 

This makes perfect sense

[Guest vodor]

i saw them at the sasquatch music festival at the end of may and they just seemed like bitter old cunts trying to make a buck on their way out of town. they made some jab at their old rival the smashing pumpkins (how timely!), had some beef with the walkmen (did the walkmen play later than them at coachella? who the fuck knows!), and were not-so-subtly pinched that they were on between lcd soundsystem and massive attack on that night, as if they were way above it allllll. all while their set was boring as FUCK.

 

i am by no means a fan but i can appreciate the shit that they laid down back in the day, how how much other acts and scenes owe to them, but the show was complete wank.

[perunamuusi]

they made some jab at their old rival the smashing pumpkins (how timely!)

 

 

Did that happen to be in the middle of the track range life by any chance?

[Alzado]

vodor, i don't doubt that much of what you say is truish. part of the pavement experience is navigating a bit of attitude which you are never quite sure is serious sour grapes or more likely tongue in cheek. As Ludd suggests, the Smashing Pumpkins reference that you allude to was likely a line in Range Life, which is an original line in the song. When that song was released in 1994 (or so), it came at a time when Smashing Pumpkins had released a pretty great album (the only one, imo) and Billy Corgan had not yet publicly revealed the depths of his douchebaggery. One could argue that the dis is more appropriate now than ever as we are all now privy to the knowledge that Malkmus had then concerning Corgan's throbbing erection of an ego.

 

As to the band's attitude at the festival, Malkmus rarely reveals his true intentions, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he started to regret committing to play all these obnoxious festivals, especially given their experience with the original Lollapalooza. Their fanbase isn't necessarily comprised of all fans of "alternative" music (a 90's term) generally, but a particular niche. So their reception at those fests is often mixed, although i would expect it to be better now than it was when Pavement was an active recording and touring band.

 

 

Anywhoooooo, here's the set list from the show that I saw at the Greek. There's a torrent available. It might be worth a download to compare the band on this night to the band you saw playing at Sasquatch.

 

 

http://www.windowfruit.com/pavement2010/setlists/2010-06-25.html

 

Pavement

2010-06-25

Greek Theatre

Berkeley, CA

 

Cut Your Hair

Frontwards

Gold Soundz

Stereo

Zurich is Stained

Rattled By the Rush

Unfair

Silence Kid

Kennel District

Grounded

Range Life

Shady Lane

Date w/ IKEA

Spit on a Stranger

The Hexx

We Dance

Elevate Me Later

In the Mouth a Desert

Starlings of the Slipstream

Stop Breathin'

Trigger Cut (w/ Gary Young)

Box Elder (w/ Gary Young)

Encore Break

Lions (Linden) (w/ Gary Young)

Two States (w/ Gary Young)

Summer Babe (w/ Gary Young)

Here (w/ Gary Young)

[Guest vodor]

sorry, i was quite intoxicated when i made that post. i'm just mildly intoxicated now. i still feel the same way about the show, but i'm not really so strong-willed about it. i'll certainly take your word for it when you say that the attitude is part of the experience, but, out of the loop as i was, i didn't find it very engaging at the time.

 

that's interesting about "range life"!

 

i've only ever heard pavement recorded in the form of loose songs here and there. i can tell that when i sit down and give them a serious listen i'll like them, because they really do make the sort of music that i dig a lot, but the show gave me a poor first impression. i'm sure if i had been a fan already i would have been into the "heh whatever" thing that dude had going on and had a laugh, but, as it was, i was quite open to believing that they're just a worn out reunion cash cow that felt the need to fight against reality by being above it all.

 

one amusing aspect of the show was that a guy in the band that mostly banged on a tambourine during the show was quite amiable and funny during a stretch where some technical difficulties were trying to be resolved. malkmus referred to the difficulties as "pathetic." pfff dude, happens all the time at them festivals!

 

i'll have to give that set a try, thanks.

[Alzado]

yeah, bob really sort of sums up the unique spirit of the band. when he's not in pavement, which is most of the time over the past ten years, he runs a horse racing newsletter. he hosts a big party for the kentucky derby every year at his house where pretty much everyone is invited. these guys did not become rich because of their music, proving that we do not live in a meritocracy.

 

however, they staid themselves, which was always more appealing than their playing anyway.

 

 

 

 

the quality of the recording in that torrent is not the best. but it's suitable for a listen.

[delet...]

i thought that i should check to see if there's still a ninjatune forum, thankfully there is. Like ten years since i've looked or something. Anyway, someone posted this pavement thing from newsweek, interview with malkmus and some unreleased or bside, compilation whatever tracks. Most are assuredly worth having not been released properlee. Nevertheless interesting document.

 

http://www.newsweek.com/stephen-malkmus-guide-pavements-secret-history-359263

 

odd that newsweek, nwae, guess my generation is doing stuff now so i shouldn't be surprised. Well not me, i don't do anything. Keeping slacker real. Engage with society, whatsthefuukk

 

https://youtu.be/5NPeykShUVA

 

https://youtu.be/e1uflFzbKS8

[RickDastardly]

Hehe! Malkmus looks like a middle-aged woman in that pic. Thanks for posting. Will give it a proper read later (when I shouldn't be working...slacker spirit tempting me).

 

Love Pavement by the way, espesh Slanted (the Luxe-Redux version has a ton of great extras). Last Malkmus album wasn't bad either.

[delet...]

yeah slanted was amazing at the time, and probably still now, haven't listened to in an age. pure skin tingly sonic lovelyness. /must go back and check the pic you were talking about, my brain wasn't really focused on photos.

 

funny story about slanted, i went to a record store when i was in sydney in 94 and accidentally bought crooked rain crooked rain, i was so broke at the time i almost wanted to cry when i put the thing on, wtf is this nooooooo, thankfully they let me swap the disc over for my meat and potata.

[RickDastardly]

Just read through it. I wonder if these will be worth picking up if we already have the deluxe versions of the albums. The Slanted one has a bunch of Peel session tracks and live stuff too. Still...I'm a sucker for Pavement. Sounds like there will be some Westing-esque madness on vol 1. I don't have that one (former flat mate had it), so I may pick vol 1 up, espesh as it is Slanted-era.

[QQQ]

funny story about slanted, i went to a record store when i was in sydney in 94 and accidentally bought crooked rain crooked rain, i was so broke at the time i almost wanted to cry when i put the thing on, wtf is this nooooooo, thankfully they let me swap the disc over for my meat and potata.

Crooked Rain is great too. Underrated. My funny (not funny) crooked rain related story is that my brand new bike was stolen whilst I was listening to that album. Nooooooo x2

 

The album is cursed.

[delet...]

hah probably. I wasn't ready for crooked rain qqq, it was such a departure away from what i was after from that band. Still though i think i've listened to it very few times.

[RickDastardly]

 

Just read through it. I wonder if these will be worth picking up if we already have the deluxe versions of the albums. The Slanted one has a bunch of Peel session tracks and live stuff too. Still...I'm a sucker for Pavement. Sounds like there will be some Westing-esque madness on vol 1. I don't have that one (former flat mate had it), so I may pick vol 1 up, espesh as it is Slanted-era.

think they're all just going to be the bonus material from the deluxe versions. there was a tiny bit of crossover from westing on the slanted deluxe anyway wasn't there - summer

 

i had all the CDs at the time and have all the albums and most of the singles but i'll still be getting these

I think you are right. I remember a version of Box Elder being on there in some form or another. I'll need to see what these releases look like when they come out (was a date given for vol 1?). There is so much good stuff coming out at the moment that I'll need to think sensibly about whether I buy something I essentially already have. It's been nice having Pavement back in my head...I might well stick on my Pavement DVD this weekend...love the live sets on that.