[photo courtesy of Nadia Chaudhury]

Matt from Fluxblog described Thursday night’s Pavement show in an interview with NPR as “kinda tired, odd moods, a bit sloppier, definitely just kinda weird and goofy.” Matt is a bright and perceptive guy — his music writing is some of the best on the web. But in this case, he’s dead wrong. I have the audio proof to offer you. Pavement’s performance was loose, but that’s their forte. But there is no denying the energy of the individual performances from this show, not the least of which was the moment early in the set when the full band kicked in on “Gold Soundz” at the very point where the full moon illuminated the post-dusk night air. The band kept up the pace for twenty minutes straight through a screaming, manic version of “Unfair”, when they finally took a breath to wish a fan happy birthday and slowed things down with “Spit On A Stranger”. Far from sloppy or tired, Malkmus vocals on “Stranger” were confident and relaxed. The show kicked back into high gear with the heavy sounds of “Rattled” and “Stereo”. The band then whipped out rarely played (first of the tour) “Loretta’s Scars” (streaming below). “That was pretty good, and I’ve been there for all three times we played it, good job guys”, mused Malkmus. The band recovered from a slight snafu at the opening of “Stop Breathin'” to reclaim an inspired version of the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain classic. Malkmus spoke sincerely about how “Cut Your Hair” had changed his life before delving into perhaps the band’s most well-known number. The jammy “Fight This Generation”, superb guitar work on “Fin”, and the band’s other “hit” “Summer Babe” were among the closing tracks in this outstanding main set. The encore “set” consisted of 8 songs and one apparent “tease”, offering the packed Summerstage crowd a neat two-hour, twenty-eight song epic show.

I recorded this set with the four-mic rig from the front of the soundboard cage, about 100 feet from the stage. While the distance and wind were factors, the Neumann hypers raised to 13 feet captured the high end, and the DPAs at 10 feet secured the bass presence. Overall, I’m pleased with the quality of this recording. Enjoy!

Stream “Loretta’s Scars”:
[audio:http://www.acidjack.com/Pavement/Pavement%202010-09-23%20LORETTA%27S%20SCARS.mp3]
Stream “Summer Babe”:
[audio:http://www.acidjack.com/Pavement/Pavement%202010-09-23%20SUMMER%20BABE.mp3]

Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Pavement
2010-09-23
Rumsey Playfield
Central Park Summerstage
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Soundboard Booth

Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2010-09-25

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:54:36]
01 [introduction]
02 Grounded
03 Gold Soundz
04 Silent Kid
05 Date With IKEA
06 Unfair
07 [banter/birthday]
08 Spit On A Stranger
09 Rattled By The Rush
10 Stereo
11 Loretta’s Scars
12 [crowd/banter]
13 Frontwards
14 Stop Breathin’ [false start]
15 Stop Breathin’
16 Shoot The Singer
17 [banter]
18 Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17
19 [banter]
20 Cut Your Hair
21 Fight This Generation
22 Two States
23 Fin
24 Summer Babe
25 She Believes
26 Range Life
27 [encore break]
28 Kennel District
29 Shady Lane
30 Starlings of the Slipstream
31 Our Singer
32 [banter/Steve West praise]
33 Heckler Spray
34 Angel Carver Blues (intro)
35 In The Mouth A Desert
36 We Dance
37 Box Elder

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will continue to support Pavement, visit their official website, go to shows on this tour, and purchase the records and merch you don’t already own from the band’s official store or Matador Records.