Pavement at Kings Theatre
Stephen Malkmus of Pavement performing at Kings Theatre on Friday, September 30, 2022.
Pavement during their first night at Kings Theatre on Friday, September 30, 2022.
Bob Nastanovich of Pavement sings during their set at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, NY on Friday, September 30, 2022.
On Friday, September 30, 2022, Pavement began their four night stand at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, NY.
Pavement is one of those bands I discovered as a late teenager/early adult who I actively sought out their music on my own. How did I first hear them? I can’t recall. It might have been “Rattled by the Rush” on Beavis & Butthead, or hearing a single on the radio, or a video on 120 Minutes, but whatever the source was, I made an effort to hear more and became a fan of the band.
In September 1999, their record label, Matador Records, held a weekend of shows at Irving Plaza in New York City to celebrate their tenth anniversary. I was a freshman attending Fordham University and got a ticket to the first night where I went by myself to see Pavement for the first time. They had just released Terror Twilight and I looked forward to hearing songs from this album with the somewhat frightening name, along with tracks from Pavement’s prior records, live. Fordham’s Manhattan campus was located near Tower Records on the Upper West Side, so on late Monday nights, I would walk over to the record store to buy new CDs right at midnight, and then head back to my dorm room to listen to them on my portable CD player’s headphones, or the very next morning on my stereo.
Unbeknownst to me, Terror Twilight would be their final record before they disbanded about a year after the Irving Plaza concert I attended. I felt extremely grateful that I decided to go to the show by myself so I saw a band I really liked once as I went to more concerts around NYC solo.
Fast forward to 11 years later, in September 2010, I would see Pavement perform for the second time. The band announced a few shows in Central Park and I went with Tiffany, on her birthday (9/22) and we bought tickets over a year before the concerts would take place. I ended up moving apartments in September 2009*, and worried about losing my printed ticket I received in the mail after I moved. So I put the ticket among my clothes, specifically my underwear, as I reasoned it would be one of the first things I would need to unpack in my new place and could move it where I could easily find it later, like my nightstand drawer. The outdoor show ended up being a very rainy one that featured lightning, so we experienced a break in the set after “Stereo,” while waiting for the dangerous lightning to subside.
And now at the end of September 2022**, I saw Pavement for the third time, and captured photos for the first***. This time, the concert took place in a beautiful theater originally opened in 1929, restored and reopened in 2015. The band was joined by an opening act, Water From Your Eyes, who I saw at Knockdown Center a few weeks ago. Earlier in the day, I visited their pop-up exhibit at 475 Greenwich Street with Ellen on her birthday, where I could see handwritten lyrics in notebooks, posters, ticket stubs, old t-shirts, and many other items on display, including mud stained clothes from a Lollapalooza set in 1995, and a nightlight that I own too. So when the band took the stage at 9:05PM, I was more than ready to experience their live set again.
What made the third time special for me, besides seeing them in a beautiful space, was that the band seemed to be having fun. Reflecting back on those other two shows this morning, that element of joy seemed to be missing for those earlier performances. Everyone on stage seemed to be happy and appreciate the excitement from the audience, and not have their set impacted by hazardous wet weather, or perhaps not wanting to be there at all. I especially enjoyed Bob Nastanovich running around on stage, particularly during “Unfair.” Plus, I got to hear one of my favorite songs, “Serpentine Pad,” live at last and buy lots of their merchandise.
More photos from Pavement’s first show at Kings Theatre are now available on Bowery Presents’ The House List, along with a review by Dan Rickershauser, here. There’s also a recording by NYCTaper of this show available here.
And naturally, after writing all this, I’m now considering getting a ticket for their fourth and final night at Kings since I don’t want to wait another decade, give or take, to see Pavement again****.
*I moved in with my boyfriend at the time, who is now my husband, and we’re still in the same apartment today.
**It looks like I keep seeing Pavement in September. Let’s keep that streak going, guys.
***I may have taken a few film photos at Irving Plaza but chances are they aren’t good enough to scan and publish online so we won’t count that.
****I ended up going again on Sunday, October 2nd.