Pavement: Salt Shed

A quick note for any potential newcomers to this site: my preference in live music experiences is for unexpected things to happen. After nearly four decades doing this, I don’t need to pay extra money to watch a band play their songs exactly like they sound on their records. These days, you might be paying more for a backline of overproduction than for the sounds coming out of mouths or through strings. That’s why it’s so heartwarming that young people are finding out about Pavement.

There will never be any heated online debate about whether Pavement was using backing tracks at a show. I understand some folks are even mad about click tracks these days? I promise you Pavement doesn’t use those either! The gloriously sloppy rockers came onstage at the Salt Shed promptly at 8 Wednesday night, following a fun opening set by Nap Eyes out of Halifax (“We’ve been fans of Pavement since we were little kids”, said frontman Nigel Chapman. “That wasn’t even possible for me!” I thought). Augmenting the core quintet since 2022 is Rebecca Cole on keyboards, percussion and backing vocals; she was on a riser behind Stephen Malkmus, and if nothing else, her presence may have given Bob Nastanovich some extra freedom to roam the stage. This was an extremely Bob-dominated show; I couldn’t say whether or not that’s the norm for this mini-tour, which makes its sixth stop of ten tonight in Cleveland.

I happen to follow another band featuring a guy who generally hits things with sticks but also sometimes cavorts around stage making an ass of himself (I mean this in the most loving possible way!), and I have to admit, by the end of my recent Phish run, I was longing for the ‘antics’ of days past. They’re so SERIOUS these days! Pavement was a much-needed dose of not-seriousness. However for the “Grounded” opener I had a little trouble determining whether Malkmus was deliberately dragging behind the beat or if maybe something was wonky with the monitors. “Summer Babe” was a little more put-together and then “Gold Soundz” again seemed eeeextra sloppy. Gag or not, the band got tighter as the sky got darker, and Nastanovich kept things um lively; as rarely as this band lumbers around the country, it was hard to keep the thought from my head: how many more times will we have the chance to see Bob hopping gleefully around a stage with or without a tambourine? We got our fill tonight.

Phish fans have always argued about the value of goofy-drummer interludes; I would’ve considered myself a hater for a long time, but absence blah blah blah. If you’re caught up in the flow of a performance and suddenly it turns into an obnoxious circus, though, it can be annoying. And sometimes Pavement shows are for the most part ragers from beginning to end; the last time they played Milwaukee, for instance (DON’T CLICK THE MYSPACE LINKS). This was not that type of Pavement show. This was a relaxed, summery outdoor vibe; it only got noisy and intense when it was necessary. In the meantime, Bob was up there to entertain us and keep the mood light JUST in case anybody else was feeling grouchy.

It didn’t seem like anybody was, though. There wasn’t a ton of banter but what there was felt good-natured. When “Cut Your Hair” ended around 9, it was like the ‘festival set’ had concluded and maybe things would get weird. “Harness Your Hopes” was cool to hear, but what happened after it was way out of left field: “Stairway To Heaven”? Apparently it’s becoming a trend on the tour; they just jammed out the middle section of the song, Malkmus making up ridiculous lyrics as he went along. I’m putting this in the collection of videos I want to take back to the early ‘90s in a time machine and blow people’s minds.

Despite the frivolous nature of this “cover” they played it so effectively, it was really worth the price of admission just for those four minutes or whatever. See, it’s almost always a better time if you DON’T look at the setlists beforehand; things happen that you would never in a million years expect. In my state of incredulity, I had a thought: the fact is, playing a song like “Stairway To Heaven” is so EASY. It’s all laid out in 4/4 time, precisely arranged, its dynamics set in stone. What’s really difficult is to be a band like Pavement, oblivious to all the rules of what sounds good, yet still sound good. And maybe some people walked way dismayed by the constant Bobness, or were pining for the tighter, fiercer version of the band. Me, I’m grateful these weirdos are still willing to share their lives with us like this. As far as I’m concerned, they hit all the right notes.