Coachella: Pavement pounds the ’90s turf
Kevin Bronson on
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Who: Pavement at the main stage
In 3 or Fewer Words: “Gold Soundz.”
I’ll Remember This Forever Because: Well, I could make a shot for extreme eloquence here, buttressed with adjective-riddled hyperbole. Instead: I’ll remember this forever because, man, this was f*cking Pavement. Playing their songs to a criminally small audience (thanks, Phoenix) with an intense alacrity that never belied their eternal Chesired slacker smirk, the beloved indie-rock legends tore through what was essentially a greatest-hits run-through of their discography – opening with the lumbering grooves of “Silence Kit,” brushing up against their punk roots with the charging, churning “Two States,” and dropping (sort of) the insouciant veil of cool to reveal layers of wistfulness and longing in “Shady Lane” before sprinting towards the finish line in a frenzy with “Unfair” and the dual pop songs, “Summer Babe,” and “Cut Your Hair.” It was akin to having an aural flashback of your adolescence (assuming you’re a Gen X/Y-er), with all the memories, sounds, warmth and growing pains your heart will never let yourself forget. In a word, perfect. It was Pavement. Or, as frontman Stephen Malkmus put it after “Unfair”: “That was basically the ’90s in one song. Pretty much, anyway. Sort of.”
What I’d Tell My Friends Who Missed Pavement to See Phoenix: No friend of mine would make such an egregious error. Wait, you didn’t, did you?
– Travis Woods (Web In Front). Photo: Scott Dudelson.
you know I didnt miss them! They were amazing & by far the highlight of the weekend! (besides running into you, of course!)
[…] Of the multitude of bands I caught at Coachella 2010, no group’s performance was more entertaining, alive, or meaningful to me than the Sunday night set by Pavement. As I wrote for Buzzbands: […]