Pavement Gets Back to the Gold Soundz at the Mother Church

The first time I saw Pavement was with my mom, dad and brother back in 1997, opening for Beck on the Odelay tour. I was 12, my brother Nick was 9. We both loved Beck, naturally, but knew nothing of Pavement. What we saw was the noisiest, snarkiest, most effortlessly cool thing we’d ever witnessed — in a big venue, or anywhere. My parents (who are obviously cool themselves since we were there in the first place) loved Beck. He was awesome. But his opener? I remember one of them remarking on Pavement’s proudly slovenly, feedback-heavy performance, “Thanks for inviting us to your band practice, guys.” Tough crowd! The band was getting away with something, yet it was also good. It just made us love it even more.

Bandleader Stephen Malkmus and his cohorts (who officially came together in Malkmus’ hometown of Stockton, Calif., in 1989, but trace their various associations to activities like DJing at University of Virginia student radio station WTJU and working as security guards at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York) never had huge radio hits. But the tunes from that 1997 set — “Stereo,” “Shady Lane” and “Embassy Row,” all off the then-new Brighten the Corners — never left my consciousness. They’ve been a gateway to countless other amazing cult bands: The Fall, The Clean, The Wedding Present and so many more. Their lyric sheets were vocabulary lessons: “ramrod,” “emery board,” “slipshod,” etc. Pavement proved there are different ways to measure a band’s greatness and influence.

Clearly I’m not alone here. Pavement originally called it quits in 1999, yet today they stand as a veritable classic rock outfit. Their July 28 show at the Ryman marked their second Nashville love-fest in as many nights (they hadn't played here since stopping at 328 Performance Hall in October 1994) and the final date of the band’s longest round of reunion shows since 2010. The audience included locals, out-of-towners and cool parents with kids; it was a living museum of stylish specs and rare band T-shirts. Fans came from all over: Just among our neighbors in the pews at stage right were visitors from Auburn, Ala., Chattanooga, Tenn., Louisville, Ky., Reno, Nev., and Boston.

If good nights of the week for going downtown exist, these were it. For a few hours on Monday and Tuesday, Pavement took over the edge of Broadway. At Assembly Food Hall Monday, wherever I looked there were gangs of friends linking up for quick snacks and drinks. Those arriving early Tuesday might’ve heard a local street musician serenading showgoers with karaoke covers of “Cut Your Hair” among other Malkmus-penned, Clinton-era classics.

Kicking things off Tuesday night was Soccer Mommy, once a bedroom project with promising songs and a tentative live show, but now a refined, confident juggernaut with a simultaneously pretty and gritty sound. For how consistently strong the press has been for leader Sophie Allison and her band since her 2018 debut Clean, I was surprised to learn this was the first time they’ve played the Mother Church. As Malkmus put it while pausing for some last-show-of-tour superlatives: “She’s got great-sounding songs, and really good lyrics — a rarity in this age.” At this rate, a headlining gig can’t possibly be far off.

I stood every moment of both gigs. Most everyone did. But not just for the familiar tunes. Pavement’s inexplicable surprise TikTok breakout (is there any other kind when it comes to old bands?), the 1999 B-side “Harness Your Hopes,” was played both nights. It received just as thrilled a reception as canonical tunes like “Gold Soundz” and “Range Life,” which sit alongside the aforementioned “Cut Your Hair” on 1994’s seminal Crooked Rain Crooked Rain.

Monday’s performance started out sluggish, with utility player Bob Nastanovich working overtime to keep energy up before the band rounded into form. That set consisted heavily of short, crude yet profound material from Pavement’s watershed debut Slanted and Enchanted, which turns 35 next year. You could call Nastanovich’s contribution a lot of banging and yelling, if you want. But without him, it all would’ve come off painfully serious. Thankfully, with the rest of the crew more on their game Tuesday, the indefatigable auxiliary vocalist, drummer and hype man didn’t have to work as hard. They roared out of the gate with “In the Mouth a Desert,” one of the few Slanted songs not played the first night. For the next two hours, they ran the gamut from indie-rock classics to deep rarities.

In their years between reunions, Pavement’s members have naturally become more proficient players, in part simply from keeping at it. Since his eponymous 2001 LP, Malkmus has issued seven more with his band The Jicks — that’s two more albums than Pavement managed on their initial run. This level-up in skill was evident in moments like the high-flying psych of “Fight This Generation” and Brighten the Corners closer “Fin.” That’s where bassist Mark Ibold and drummer Steve West shone brightest — it felt like an indie-rock jam band, and I mean that as a compliment. If there was one moment not to mess up, it was the aforementioned “Harness Your Hopes,” and they didn’t. (If trending on TikTok means more people under 40 at a Pavement show in 2026, I’m for it.)

But the band hasn’t forgotten who they are either. The moments recalling their origins as friends messing around in a suburban NorCal garage felt genuine. These included the false start to Crooked Rain’s “Elevate Me Later,” a flubbed crash-in to “Gold Soundz” (Malkmus: “That was a very … cute version of that one”) and ecstatic performances of guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg’s simple-yet-powerful contributions “Kennel District” and “Painted Soldiers.” There was also Malkmus’ presong huddle with Ibold ahead of “Texas Never Whispers,” noise rock par excellence from their 1992 EP Watery, Domestic. “Range Life” was also punctuated by a tender moment between Malkmus and Nastanovich, when they sat on the stage’s edge, heads on each other’s shoulders.

On the opposite end of the catalog, there were “The Hexx,” “Spit on a Stranger” and “Folk Jam” (omitted Tuesday, but played Monday), all from Pavement’s swan song Terror Twilight. The record is an outlier among some fans for its more mature sound and pristine Nigel Godrich production, but the songs translated beautifully at the relatively intimate Ryman. Backwards-gazing can be a trap, but the vibe here was comfortable nostalgia. All over the room, it felt as if old friendships were being rekindled, new ones forged, and new memories made.

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