Pavement @ Tripod, 4th May 2010

Fuck dance, let's art. Fuck art, let's dance. More on last night's gig when I have time but for now my memories are a blur of how everything from Slanted sounded at once epic yet remained rooted in that wonderful early Pavement grot-rock sound. Perfume V, Two States and No Life Singed Her were as welcome as they were - to these ears at least - out of place with what has become a perfectly polished and cherry-picked setlist from the wealth of Crooked Rain through to Terror Twilight's more modest delights.
Last night was a reminder of how fucking great Wowee Zowee is - that wonderful mid-period record which saw the band try their hands and succeed at what passed for cutesy indie-rock of the time (Black Out - alas absent from last night), alt-country with a slacker twist (Father To A Sister of Thought) through to anthemic rock (Grounded - a personal highlight from last night but this changes regularly).
The band stayed onstage for two hours and hurtled through a flawless set and yet as I drove home I wished I'd heard Lorreta's Scars, Hit The Plane Down, Fillmore Jive or even Best Friend's Arm - I think that says more about the strength of Pavement's back catalogue than it does my occasional random dissatisfaction with life itself.
Given the nature of the band's split, it was inevitable that folk would look for visible manifestations of tension onstage. As far as this goes, Malkmus marooning himself stage right probably gave cause for idle chatter despite the fact that he's consistently eschewed the frontman spotlight thing. He didn't engage much initially but there was a moment on Gold Soundz when he cracked a smile which seemed to last the duration of the gig.
So.......once, twice, three times a triumph. A magical evening.