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Manchester Evening News

Entertainment

Joe Goggins

Review: Pavement at 02 Apollo Manchester

Pavement Manchester Apollo (Facility) Stephen Malkmus

For a long time, it looked as if Pavement might never return to Manchester. By the time of their last appearance in town, at the Academy in November 1999, the wheels were already coming off, with the highly influential indie rockers growing increasingly exasperated at the commercial shackles of the music industry. It was to be their penultimate show; the following night, at London’s Brixton Academy, frontman Stephen Malkmus told the crowd that the pair of handcuffs attached to his mic stand symbolised “what it's like being in a band all these years.” Two weeks later, they announced they’d “retired”.

A reunion followed a decade later, but within a matter of months, intra-band relations had again collapsed; Manchester was overlooked on the touring schedule, but reports from London painted a portrait of a band going through the motions, participating in a cash-grab that went against their principles as a group never comfortable with the idea of music as a commodity. If eyebrows were raised when a second reformation was announced in mid-2019, then, they would have been justified, and fans would have been entitled to wonder whether they’d be paying to watch a band look as if they’d rather be anywhere else than playing music with each other.

Originally scheduled to kick off in 2020, perhaps it was the pandemic’s stinging reminder that nothing should be taken for granted that instilled a change of attitude in Pavement. By the time they finally played their long-awaited headline set at Primavera Sound festival this past June, they were unrecognisable from the band that had last shared the stage in 2010, with sullen disquiet replaced by sheer ebullience.

On tonight’s evidence, too, the Californians have clearly rediscovered the joy in their back catalogue. Often unfairly slapped with the slacker tag, owing to the breezy, melodic nature of hits like ‘Cut Your Hair’ and ‘Gold Soundz’, they actually sound slick and sharply-rehearsed, allowing them not only to dig deep into the vaults for the rarely-aired likes of ‘Major Leagues’ and ‘Gangsters & Pranksters’, but also to fire through what is a hugely varied setlist with scintillating energy. Even Malkmus, who’s awkward stage presence and opaque lyricism often suggesting a man uncomfortable with the spotlight, appears to be having fun, while percussionist Bob Nastasovich effectively takes on the role of hype man, bouncing giddily across the stage and roaring along with the crowd.

Pavement first formed as a band in 1989 (Gail Butensky)

In amongst what is largely a set played at breakneck pace, there is the occasional, arguably too infrequent, pause for reflection; the woozy ‘Starlings of the Slipstream’ is a case in point, as is the gorgeous yearning of countrified closer ‘Range Life’. In that vein, too, is ‘Harness Your Hopes’, a once-obscure B-side that has risen to the status of their most-streamed song thanks to Generation Z turning it into a TikTok hit.

That demographic is sparsely represented at the Apollo tonight; always the sort of band that looked like their fanbase, the same group that stared out at a bunch of thirty-somethings when they last played here is performing largely for fellow fifty-somethings tonight. Once upon a time, they would have baulked at the idea that they’d indulge in this kind of nostalgia, but by imbuing these shows with such a sense of exuberance and gratitude, they’ve confirmed that these songs are timeless - this is as vital as Pavement have ever sounded.

Setlist

Major Leagues

Shoot the Singer (1 Sick Verse)

Summer Babe

Starlings of the Slipstream

Perfume-V

Here

Spit on a Stranger

Unfair

Harness Your Hopes

Shady Lane

Two States