Review: Pavement @ Fox Theater, Pomona 4/15/10

Our good friend Aaron Fortin filed this report for us from the Pavement show in Pomona, CA from the other night. Given that the band is about to rage everyone’s pants off today at Coachella, I figured I’d drop the post today to give the rest of us an idea of what they can expect.

My ears are still ringing and my grin is still wide after Pavement’s gig at the beautiful Fox Theatre in Pomona last night. The stage was haphazardly draped with hanging lights and lead singer/lyricist, Stephen Malkamus, if you weren’t in the first 10 rows, looked like he was twenty years old again, bouncing around, guitar swinging, side-stepping across the stage. There was nostalgia to be found, but it was embraced wholeheartedly by the audience and the band. Although this is being labeled a “warm-up” for Coachella, I can tell you, if you were there last night, it was everything but. 31 songs, 2+ hours and two encores later, the audience was slammed over the head with some really aggressive playing. The band, especially bassist Mark Ibold and drummer Steve West were taking chances, not running through a greatest hits collection like some may have feared going into this “reunion.” As their 1992 debut album’s title suggests (Slanted & Enchanted), I’m pretty sure most of the audience was just that last night…

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