At some point towards the end of the screaming (good) din of Ty Segall, former Pavement god Stephen Malkmus came out of the backstage area and hid in the shadows to watch Segall and his band rip through Sabbath’s “Paranoid”.
At which point I devised a plan and started tapping out a note on my iPhone: “Shitty about the NBA lockout, hey? Ps, I’m friends with Bob Nastanovich so just wanted to say hi but not scream in your ear. I’m Mikala, we met last year.” I went up, smiled at Steve, and stuck the phone with the message on it, in front of him. He looked confused, read it and beamed back, pulled out his earplugs and we started talking…about Bob (“You’re not one of his ‘horse people’ are you?” he asked referring to Nastonvich’s love of the equine and races world), about living now in Berlin (“yeah! It’s pretty cool.”) and basketball and the lockout (Me: How are you dealing with it? Him: “It’s not so bad, there’s no basketball in Berlin, so…”) And then he thanked me for comin’ up, saying hello and not shouting in his ear. “That was cool of you…”
Yeah, Steve Malkmus was chill. For a guy who actually is pretty chill but kinda gives off the cold-slacker-king vibe, it was a treat to see Malkmus again being nicely….loose.
Much like the gig. Steppin’ on with the Jicks (Mike Clark, Joanna Bolme and Jake Morris) and throwin’ the rockhands to the totally rad first-album cool of “Jenny & The Ess Dog”, Malkmus & Co rocked and wailed tunelessly (as he does, bless ‘im) through a mostly Mirror Traffic set including a tight “Tigers” and poppy “Senator” plus “Spazz” “Brain Gallop” “Forever 28” and “No One Is” . There was a new one, too, “Planetary Motion”. And highlights BY FAR were encore “Baby C’Mon” from Face the Truth and the sweet Sweet cover of “Love is like Oxygen”. It all had that very Stuck In An Excellent Basement Jam Session With Friends Who Can Actually Play But They Are Noodling With Their Eyes Closed, But There’s Plenty Of Beer and Everyone’s Content sorta vibe.
In a tweet?: Tunes were tight, vibe was loose, all was good. Enjoy the pics and the setlist below. \m/
