Review: Pavement @ Thebarton Theatre

No band delivers service with a smile like Pavement.

Words by Dave Knight

Image by Florencia Esseling

A touch over 30 years since their first album Slanted and Enchanted became one of the most influential debuts of the ‘90s, Pavement’s return to Thebarton Theatre was a joyful reminder why they remain the standard bearer of American indie. 

Local openers Bad//Dreems brought the heat with their brand of hard-hitting pub and yob rock. Unphased by the seated audience that greeted them, the local five-piece roared through a set list that included Jack and Dumb Ideas before fittingly closing with GOD’s My Pal, a track whose influence you can hear screaming through the Baddies’ discography (and a fair slab of their contemporaries as well). 

Hyped as early figureheads of the slacker movement with their lo-fi debut, Slanted and Enchanted, Pavement were instead prolific and adventurous. Their five albums between ’92 and ’99 set the benchmark for indie with their loose, eclectic, and seemingly anything-goes style punctuated by Stephen Malkmus’ smart, sharp, occasionally sarcastic, and often cryptic, turn of phrase. 

Last in town around the release of their best-of Quarantine the Past in 2010, it was a tour-hardened six-piece (Wild Flag’s Rebecca Cole joining the classic line-up) that made their way to Thebby’s stage having spent much of 2022 and 2023 on the road. 

Warmly welcomed by a decent Thebby crowd, guitarist and sometime vocalist Spiral Stairs wasn’t having any of this seated business; he encouraged the crowd on their feet as the band kicked off with Wowee Zowee album favourite Grave Architecture before the JJJ hit from a generation ago, Stereo, got some pogoing like it was 1997. 

With Transport is Arranged and Perfume – V, the band showed why they are a must-attend some 25 years after they disbanded: they are still an absolute joy to catch live. 

Never taking themselves too seriously but never winking at the audience either, Pavement know how to entertain as Malkmus’ detached cool is juxtaposed with the manic presence of second drummer and hype man Bob Nastanovich, who is blessed with the stamina of a 20-something buzzing on an energy drink. 

But it was Spiral Stairs who provided an early highlight with his sublime bit of indie pop, Kennel District, which seemed to click the band into another gear as they ran through hits and rarities from their short but prolific recording career including Two States and the sublime late single, Spit on a Stranger. 

With fan favourites Grounded, Gold Soundz, Type Slowly and Range Life highlights, the band disappeared before returning for an encore that included, We Dance, Starlings of the Slipstream and their almost hit Cut Your Hair before finishing with the beautiful Fin. 

While this won’t go down as Pavement’s greatest ever Adelaide appearance, it was a timely reminder as to why they remain so beloved – they are as refreshing as when you discovered Summer Babe and Cut Your Hair all those years ago. 

Despite their imitators (and there are many) there is no band that delivers service with a smile like Pavement. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 13 years to see them again.

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