“Happy Easter. Happy Easter. Fucking pagans.”
With this opening greeting, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks broke in to the opening track from Real Emotional Trash, “Dragonfly Pie.” Focusing primarily on material from the band’s most recent release, the four-piece performed one of the best sets the Southgate House has seen in a while *. Between the raucous but concordant songs, Malkmus often bantered with the audience, making such comments as, “Newport has really grown up. It used to be a sup-port to Cincinnati. Now it’s its own place.”
During “Baby C’Mon,” from the previous Malkmus album, Face The Truth, it became apparent that Pavement should not get back together. With all of the talk recently about Pavement reuniting, I cannot imagine why Malkmus would want to get his former band together. Pavement has some great songs, which Malkmus rarely plays these days, and is seen as the ultimate band from the ‘90s. But the band Malkmus is currently touring and recording with is better than a reunited Pavement could be.
Janet Weiss, formerly of Sleater-Kinney and currently in the band Quasi, is one of the most subtly dynamic and powerful drummers currently playing. Joanna Bolme, who has also played with or had connections to Quasi and Elliott Smith, lays down a solid bass line. Mike Clark, on keyboards and guitar, is the perfect compliment to Malkmus, supplying countermelodies and harmonized riffs.
As the band played “Baltimore” from Real Emotional Trash, it became apparent that Stephen Malkmus is one of the greatest guitarists of this generation. His ability to seamlessly switch from rhythm to lead while extending songs with jam-like solos is unparalleled in modern musicians. Even when the songs are elongated, they are still rooted in the catchy melodies and never veer into tedious territory – as many jams often do. His talented, loose style cannot be matched.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a show that started when it was supposed to. I had ever intention of catching John Vanderslice’s opening set. I saw him as an opener at the Southgate House once before. Beulah was the headliner that particular night. Vanderslice’s set that night in 2003 was great. Unfortunately, tonight I didn’t get there early enough to see his full set. I did catch him perform one of my favorite songs, “Time Travel Is Lonely.”
Then, for the band’s final song, they climbed off the Southgate stage and took to the center of the main floor. With a circle around the band, which included David Douglas on floor tom, Daniel Hart on violin, and Ian Bjornstad on squeezebox for this song, Vanderslice strummed his acoustic guitar and sang “Time To Go,” from his most recent release, Emerald City. While most of the audience was there to see Malkmus, it would have been more respectful to let this musician perform his unamplified closing number with minimal aural interference. I tried to get close to Vanderslice’s performance circle, but the sound of the final song was still drowned out by the casual conversations of the audience.
An extra bonus for the night was the performance of The Pasties in Junie’s Lounge of the Southgate House. The Pasties describe their sound as “indie-dance-folk-punk.” While The Pasties were not a part of the official bill, this Olympia, WA, band happened to be booked to play the front room of the Southgate House. This mixture of piquant charm and explosive energy were a perfect accompaniment for a show by the former Pavement member.
* For this reviewer, the last show at the Southgate House that surpassed the level of greatness of this show was Sleater-Kinney’s last performance – about 2 ½ years ago.
www.stephenmalkmus.com
www.johnvanderslice.com
www.pastiesarmy.com | www.myspace.com/thepasties
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