Spiral Stairs Teams With Stephen Malkmus To Perform Pavement Songs In San Francisco

On Saturday night Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks played a rare 2016 set as part of a celebration of his Pavement band mate Scott Kannberg, aka Spiral Stairs‘s 50th birthday at The Chapel in San Francisco. Malkmus And The Jicks stepped up to perform after the Clean backed out due to a family emergency as per Stereogum. The old friends shared the stage for a four-song encore that included performances of three Pavement tunes.

Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks opened with a tribute to the Clean as they covered the New Zealand act’s “Thumbs Off.” The band then spent the rest of their main set mixing originals with a diverse set of covers such as “Golden Brown” by The Stranglers, “My Kingdom” by Echo & The Bunnymen and The Replacement’s “Androgynous.” Additionally, Malkmus And The Jicks covered “Cocaine” by J.J. Cale.

The encore started with Spiral Stairs leading Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks on “Falling Away” from Kannberg’s first post-Pavement band Preston School Of Industry. Spiral Stairs, Malkmus and his band then treated a delighted crowd to a series of three Pavement songs. Up first was “Date With Ikea” from 1997’s Brighten The Corners. Then, the Spiral Stairs/Malkmus fronted ensemble worked their way through Wowee Zowee’s “Kennel District.” For the finale, the two Pavement members and The Jicks tackled “Summer Babe” off Slanted And Enchanted.

Spiral Stairs and Stephen Malkmus were both founding members of Pavement and participated in a 2010 reunion. The pair last teamed up at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles on March 28, 2014 when Kannberg joined The Jicks on Pavement’s “Stereo.”

Videos (Captured by Michael Donnelly

[Falling Away]

[Kennel District]

[Date With Ikea]

[Summer Babe]

[Cocaine]