Pavement:Classic or Dud

Someone said that Crooked is their least favorite because of the sound of the production ? Crazy

This morning I was humming "Grounded" and had a realisation wow, I get the pun about "contact bridge": it's like contract bridge but it's a contact sport so I looked up the lyrics and actually it's just "contract bridge" after all. Well played, Pavement.

Crooked Rain is their best sounding record imo.

Exactly

I know it was recorded in NY but it sounds sunny SoCal to me all the way.

I vaguely remember reading an article where SM described driving around in a convertible with instrumental versions of the songs making up lyrics as he drove. And the record sounds like that to me.

Fully believe he said that. But it isn't true is it?

alpine static, that video you asked about is a highly edited “highlight”. The actual show broadcasts live.

“I/they don’t have no function”
Always wondered if that was an misread or improvised change

the dudes all look 55ish except Ibold, who looks 75. it's his posture and his clothes!

(i realize Mark's a few years older than the others.)

sorry. that IG i sent earlier was just a highlight reel. This is a an hour or so of the full thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbwCH3i4R9k

I think the rest you have to pay for

I think Steve West says about 4 words total the entire time

the zoom in on West when he zones out is hilarious

Anyone else here going tonight?

omg you guys…..

good band, huh?

Wow, that was a painful 2-3 minutes to watch, for so many reasons.

The pain had to do largely with where and who they were with there, but, if you’re selling a tour and a reissue you gotta promote, so …

What even was that?

Am generally allergic to anything podcasty that involves men giggling at their own jokes, ironically or not, and anything Adult Swimmy, so that was nightmarish. At least Pavement had the good grace to look deeply unhappy

Still mad about the Space Ghost appearance, then?

These fuck sticks who don’t like S&E

How was the show

Setlist looks amazing: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pavement/2022/the-fonda-theatre-los-angeles-ca-73b75eed.html

That setlist is kind of making me want to shell out the $$$ to see this, dammit

Feeling good that I got tickets for one of the nights in London in October, and that I just remembered this fact. Hope they're not burned out by then.

Amazing show

I’ll give a full report later!

So on a personal level, I can't remember ever having more "fun" at a show... I was dancing, pogoing, screaming along at the top of my voice, in a sea of ppl doing the same thing (many of them in their 20s - the band has a whole new fanbase, it's great). It was everything I would have wanted a Pavement show to be "back in the day," but which they weren't (at least as far as I recall).

A group of the kids was slam-dancing to some of the "bangers" - it sounds contrived, but it was cute and good-natured. Everyone was super into the show; no one was just "making the scene." (There were plenty of older folks, course - the guy noodle-dancing next to me was a Tobias Fünke dead ringer.)

The band sounded terrific, their sound was big and full - they have great gear, and the keyboard player / backup singer fleshes out the sound nicely. The songs hit hard, with full force.

Interestingly, Malkmus wasn't so much the focus; he didn't bring much of the ol' guitar magic, for whatever reason... maybe he's under-rehearsed, or just doesn't "play like that" anymore? (His playing was a little rough / flubby in a few spots; he winced at himself at one point.) But this didn't detract from the show - it just put the emphasis more on the full band, and the songs themselves. (Malk did have a few nice solos - particularly in the long jam at the end of "Folk Jam.")

For those interested, he changed the lyrics in the infamous verse of "Range Life" - the line about SP became something about going to a club where "they don't play New Wave, they don't play dub"; and he sang about Toad the Wet Sprocket in the next verse, instead of STP being elegant bachelors.

Office Hours is a weird thing to watch if you aren’t familiar with it; not conducive to drop-ins.

its very white

this is the Pavement thread after all

That setlist is kind of making me want to shell out the $$$ to see this, dammit

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, May 24, 2022 10:11 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

For real. Motion Suggests!! Also that Jim Pepper song makes perfect sense as a Pavement cover, hope a vid gets posted soon.

Yeah, it was an awesome closer! I wasn't familiar with the song

listening to it now - reminds me a little of "Fé Cega, Faca Amolada" (which is what I thought I was last night, at first... with different lyrics or something)

oh geez I would have totally teared up hearing them do “witchi tai to”! have they covered that before?

This Guardian article (which the band is promoting) has some interesting details about how the breakup affected Kannberg, etc.

Does Mark still bartend in nyc? I mean like when he’s not making bill at the stadiums

According to the article he does.

Heya, a recording of the Fonda Theatre came up so I've placed it in a dropbox link, I"ll leave it up for a few days.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kmbnc8p4u7m1of2/AACHTZ7rCbIRSlBiGvOOCdhma?dl=0

Thanks!

Yeah thanks a lot!

Gave me chills listening to this.

As in The Big Chill, when they start dancing around in the kitchen. Kinda embarrassing, to be honest.

Yeah, the 2010 reunion didn’t feel like this… and I don’t necessarily think it’s just because we’re older now (although I don’t know what else it could be).

I’m hesitant to vocalize this (because it’s a drag on several levels, both practical and metaphysical), but it may be partly due to the sense that these guys will probably not do this again.

the new streaming-era fanbase definitely seems to be changing the feeling of this tour compared to 2010. I was content to pass on this one & stick with my fond memories of the last reunion, but I think I've convinced myself to shell out the bucks and go since this feels like a different experience than just "2010 reunion but we're even older"

We’re older, it’s been a longer break, the world is unquestionably worse, Pavement is still good.

It was the first show they played in awhile, but whenever they'd hit the wrong chord or a sour note, I was just all "That's My Pavement!"

Not sure if this has been shared on any of these threads, but it will hopefully be of interest to some.

~88 SM and the Jicks live cuts from 2001-2005, with their own songs and a ton of covers.

https://archive.org/details/jickspicksvol1_rev4.1/209+Fractions+%26+Feelings+-+2002-06-01+Graceland%2C+Seattle+WA.flac

they were great last night. SP/STP references back in Range Life. learned that my 19 y.o. knows all the lyrics.

Do we have an idea of how big this new fan base is supposed to be? Because zoomers aren't discovering, say, Archers of Loaf. I know "Harness Your Hopes" took off but I wouldn't have guessed Pavement had much appeal for the kids.

not just Pavement, my daughter was raising her arms and dancing to Yo La Tengo songs yesterday that I didn’t recognize and there was an absolute sea of people for Dinosaur Jr. felt bigger than the Kacey Musgraves crowd. lots of young fans that knew the music.