Watch Pavement take to the stage for the first time in 12 years
The legendary alt-rock quintet played a comprehensive 30-song set at the Fonda Theatre ahead of their upcoming reunion tour
On Monday evening (May 23) alt-rock icons Pavement played their first show since November 2010, thrilling the faithful at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles with a 30-song set.
Before taking to the stage, the group had taken to Twitter to announce, “It’s been 4,198 days since our last work incident. That changes tomorrow.”
It’s been 4,198 days since our last work incident. That changes tomorrow.May 23, 2022
Fan footage from the gig is now online and shows a number of tracks from the well-received set, which featured a mixture of Pavement classics – Cut Your Hair, Gold Soundz and Summer Babe among them – and deeper cuts.
Serpentine Pad and Motion Suggests from the band's 1995 effort, Wowee Zowee, received their first live airings since 1996, with Slanted and Enchanted's Fame Throwa making its first setlist appearance since 1993.
All in all, 11 songs that weren't played once during the quintet's last worldwide reunion tour (in 2010) featured in the band's show at the Fonda Theatre.
All five of the band's albums – plus a couple of tracks from their 1992 Watery, Domestic EP – were represented at the show, which also featured a performance of their 1999 B-side Harness Your Hopes, which in recent years has risen from obscurity to become the unlikeliest of TikTok hits.
The Fonda Theatre show was a warm-up gig of sorts for the group, who are set to head to Europe next month for a couple of many-times-delayed festival dates.
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This fall though, the band will return to the U.S. for an extensive North American tour, after which they'll return to Europe for a more robust tour of the continent.
For tickets and Pavement's full itinerary, visit the band's website.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
- Matt ParkerFeatures Editor, GuitarWorld.com
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