My Pavement Mini-Reunion (Omaha Edition)

I witnessed a very rare occurrence last Sunday night (Feb 16, 2014) while seeing Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks in concert at Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha. Towards the end of the show, Malkmus welcomed to the stage his former Pavement bandmate, Bob Nastanovich. 

Nastanovich supposedly lives in Des Moines, IA (apprx. 2 hours away from Omaha), and occasionally visits Omaha to see shows. When I arrived at the venue for the concert, I was told he was on the guest list. No more than two minutes later, I saw him and Malkmus walk right by me and head outside. I immediately started thinking, "Pavement reunion!"

Well, not exactly. I did, however, get to see 2/5 of Pavement reunite and perform the song, "Unfair" from the band's celebrated album, 'Wowee Zowee.' The track was perfect for this situation as it features Nastanovich on lead yelling. The raucous track got the crowd super excited, and once everyone figured out what was happening, there was a mad rush from the back of the club to the front of the stage. 

The "reunion" lasted for only one song, unfortunately. Still, it was a pretty great couple of minutes.

Video from the 1st Pavement Reunion Show!

Shot last night at the band's first show in more than 1o years!! Here, they perform "Rattled by the Rush." The sound sucks, but it's Pavement!!

Pavement Reunion in 2010!?

YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! That is about all I can say. According to the music blog Brooklyn Vegan, seminal 90s rock band Pavement is reuniting in 2010 for a few shows and possibly a tour. YES!!! "According to reliable sources, it's finally happening in 2010! There will be multiple, possibly four, nights of shows at NYC's Central Park Summerstage in September of that year. That could be part of a tour. That could be the end of a tour, the middle of a tour, or even the beginning of a tour, but it seems reasonable to speculate that they might make their official comeback at Coachella in April."

This is amazing news. In general, I am opposed to band reunions. The band is never the same as they used to be, and it is generally a disappointment. But recently, with the reunions of Dinosaur Jr., Mission of Burma, and The Lemonheads, I am re-thinking my previous position. Besides, it's only been 10 years since the break-up, and I saw Stephen Malkmus as recently as last year, and he was amazing. I don't see how this could go badly. If they only play in NYC or Coachella, I may have to fly over there.
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UPDATE at 7:40 pm: Bob Nostanovich, former member of Pavement, is currently in Omaha at The Waiting Room (6212 Maple St). He just CONFIRMED the Pavement reunion story to one of the club's owners. He said it is one show, for sure, and possibly a tour afterward.

Matador Will Release Expanded Edition of Pavement's 'Wowee Zowee'

It's about freakin' time! Matador Records has announced that it will be re-issuing Pavement's 1995 album Wowee Zowee. Matador had been re-releasing each of the Pavement albums to coincide with its 10 year anniversary, but nothing happened when Wowee became 10 years old.

The re-issues for both Slanted and Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain were incredible collections. Both featured an entire second disc of bonus material -- much of it previously unavailable in any format. But when 2005 ended without any mention of a re-issue for Wowee, I assumed Matador had cancelled the project.

To many Pavement fans, Wowee Zowee is an unsung classic. It was written off at the time of its initial release as being too weird. It may have been too weird for much of the mainstream audience that had discovered Pavement the year before, but it was not for older fans. The album was a commercial disappointment at the time, and led many critics to begin writing Pavement's eulogy.

Pavement made two more albums before officially breaking up in 1999. At this time, Matador has not released a track listing or a release date for the expanded Wowee. In case you don't have the original, here is one of the many great tracks from the album.

Pavement - Father To a Sister of Thought.mp3

Tag: Pavement