Concert review: Pavement!

Pavement
Friday, September 24, 2010
Central Park Summer Stage, New York City

Full write up over on Draw Us Lines.

This was just an all-around good concert. Internet commenters will endlessly make comparisons amongst the various reunion shows, particularly the NYC concerts, but who really cares. The bottom line is that five guys got onstage and made some fabulous music and put on an interesting, exciting, and fun show. Some stray observations from the show:

• Opening band The Beets were pretty fun, even though all of their songs sounded identical. Nothing wrong with having a specific sound, you know? Also, they played a pretty sweet cover version of "Locomotion"! They kept their set short and light, perfect for an opening set for a big show like this. I found it interesting that the drummer stood/jumped the whole time and played with one drumstick and one mallet (he even drummed with a tambourine at some point). Had they not said they were from Queens, I would have guessed California, given their style and sunglasses at 7:05 pm. I've seen some comments on other blogs that were complaining about this band, but I thought they were fine. Also, right before Pavement played I heard someone behind us asking another guy who opened since he got there late and the other guy didn't know either, so I turned around and said "The Beets" and the first guy said, "Oh man, I like The Beets!" So there ya go.
  
• Alcohol was stupid-expensive at the show, but weed was omnipresent. I spotted at least six people within our immediate vicinity blatantly smoking a joint. Sweet.
  
• We brought food into the venue to make sandwiches (Italian bread loaf, fresh mozzarella, one tomato, and a small container of pesto) but there were some food vendors there. One of them was "Asia Dog", selling hot dogs. "Real hot dogs", remarked Leigh.
  
• The music played during the half hour break between sets was an interesting mix. I only recognized one song ("Here Without You" by The Byrds). The last song that was on before Pavement took the stage was a long and droning instrumental piece and it only seemed to remind us of how long we were waiting in anticipation.
  
• When Pavement first walked onstage to a lot of cheering, Ibold and Kannberg kinda waved and acknowledged the crowd, whereas Malkmus did a silly little double fist pump thing. I thought it was odd, but later on when I saw him adjusting his shirtsleeves, I realized that maybe the "fist pump" was actually him just making sure his rolled up sleeves would stay where they were. Guess I'll never know.