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Monday, May 16, 2011  I was able to catch Pavement a couple of times during last year's traveling nostalgia-fest, and they were wildly different experiences. The first, here in Boston at the cavernous Agganis Arena, was sonically weak but emotionally strong. The quintet was in great spirits - I could see every band members' grin from my fortunate spot in the front row - but the mix was muddy, bouncing off the walls of the college hockey arena like an errant puck. It's just a dreadful place for a rock show, especially a long-awaited reunion. I've seen three bands in that space, and I really hope I'm never compelled to make it four. The second time was a couple thousand miles away in Las Vegas when they closed out the middle night of the Matador Records 21st anniversary weekend, and while the sound in the Palms ballroom was far better across the (sound)board, the on-stage mood was most certainly not. Strain between Stephen Malkmus and Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg was plainly obvious - or at least it was from Spiral - from Malkmus there was apparent apathy and disinterest, playing with his back to the band or even on the floor for some of the set. The quintet still performed well, Bob Nostanovich was his usual wild, stage-roaming, lyric-shouting self, but the tension between the two frontmen subtracted from the vibe, for sure. Kannberg's pure joy back in Boston was infectious - especially when a Preston School of Industry bandmate joined him on vocals for a songs - but his Vegas frustration even moreso. In my head I've already tried to meld the two sets - sound from Vegas and mood from Boston - into one perfect show (and they didn't play "Debris Slide" at either one of 'em, dammit). The final show of Pavement's 2010 reunion tour was in Buenos Aires on November 22nd, 2010, and while a January interview with Nostanovich says we may see them again "in the next few years", he pretty much rules out new songs. Still, I doubted we'd ever see Pavement reunite in the first place, so nothing would surprise me at this point. (actually, that's not true... new MBV material would surprise me.) Here's their Boston set, with some further links to follow below. Keep in mind, as I said, the sound in the Agganis is, um, far from ideal, and my spot in the front row certainly didn't help. I spent a whole lot of time tweaking it, though, improving it as much as I could...  Pavement Live at Agganis Arena in Boston, MA on Saturday, September 18th, 2010 [Download the entire set as a 145 MB .zip file] 01. Silence Kid 02. Starlings of the Slipstream 03. Two States 04. Trigger Cut 05. Heckler Spray 06. In The Mouth A Desert 07. Stereo 08. Date w/Ikea 09. Stop Breathing 10. Gold Soundz 11. Conduit For Sale 12. Loretta's Scars 13. Grounded 14. Summer Babe 15. Frontwards 16. Unfair 17. Fight This Generation 18. Perfume-V (for Hypnotic Clambake?) 19. We Dance 20. Brinx Job 21. Fin 22. Cut Your Hair first encore... 23. Rattled By The Rush 24. Kennel District 25. Range Life second encore... 26. Spit On A Stranger 27. Shoot The Singer 28. Here   [the fine print] If anyone has an issue with these MP3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony minidisc and stereo mic, converted to .wav and edited to 256kbps mp3s. Labels: livemp3s  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac...
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