CONCERT REVIEW: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus kicked off his three night stand in New York City the same way he opened his fourth solo album, Real Emotional Trash, with the crushing, distorted riffs of Dragonfly Pie, followed by the hard driving track’s ponderous first stanza: “Of all my stoned digressions,” the lanky, indie rock elder statesman opined, “Some have mutated into the truth.”

Unfortunately, the song fails to elaborate on which specific stoned digressions have reached the level of truth and which have drifted away like so much pot smoke on a windy day. I, for one, would like to know for future reference. Then again, when you rock as hard and as well and as often as Mr. Malkmus and his all-star backing band The Jicks did on a drizzly Monday night down in the Bowery, such distinctions quickly seem irrelevant. But I digress.

Coloring inside, and occasionally outside, the lines laid down by former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, Malkmus, perhaps inspired by the ongoing March Madness, put on a full court press, hustling his way through a setlist heavy on Emotional Trash, including the title track, the long, sad tale of classic fall guy Hopscotch Willie, and Elmo Delmo. Even when they strayed to earlier albums, The Jicks went in for incendiary numbers like Baby C’mon and Do Not Feed the Oyster.

Pavement had a place in the hearts of the crowd, many of whom no doubt got to know them through Malkmus’s more recent work, but despite a few drunken, shouted pleas, he didn’t hearken back to the band that made him a dorm room classic back in the 90’s.

National Public Radio’s “All Songs Considered” taped the March 28th show at Washington D.C.’s intimate 9:30 Club, and you can listen for free. Kind of takes the pressure off me, trying to describe it in words. Let’s just say it was exactly what I needed and leave it at that.

HEAR THE FULL CONCERT HERE