You Should've Been There: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks [WOW Hall; 4/30/2008]

All blurry digi-photos by Chuck Adams

Well, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks did it again. They managed to turn guitar-god indie rock into a live set approaching jam rock splendor. This, from the man who once penned albums called Wowee Zowee and Slanted and Enchanted. Yes, Malkmus is far off from his Pavement days, and well into his Jicks days. Real Emotional Trash is his third — count it: his third — album with the backing band of Janet Weiss, Joanna Bolme and Mike Clark.

Joanna Bolme on bass

Yes, they played mostly their recent LP Real Emotional Trash, a surprising number of Face the Truth tracks and very little of Pig Lib (save for the encore), but the band was on a streak straight through to their encore-busting send up of some obscure classic rock track that I am obviously too young to recognize but which I still managed to be moved by, such was the energy palpable from up onstage. Oh, and I found a bootleg snippet of it online (where DO these things come from?!). Download the WMA file HERE and tell me the song title. I think it may be Ozzy Osbourne or some such.

Janet Weiss (formerly of Sleater-Kinney and currently of Quasi) on drumkit

The crowd was interesting for how homogenized it was. Mostly guys 24-40 years old with a few younger ladies in tow. Capacity was estimated to be about 2/3 full. The style of dance: Hands in pockets, rock the head. Not that there wasn't an ample supply of crowd energy, mind you. It was just more awestruck than usual.

Midway through their set, drummer Janet Weiss seemed upset over the sound levels. Malkmus mouthed some words over to her and Weiss sunk her head low to concentrate on getting through the next song, much less the rest of the show. Luckily the sound improved and Weiss eventually cracked a few smiles here and there (the equivalent of watching a sunrise … though I shouldn’t be coy about this: I’d have Janet’s baby in a sec … or, to be more PC, I’d adopt a child and ween it through its toddler years for her. And if I could catch Weiss smiling just once a day, the burden of the little drummer boy would be all worth it).

Gone is the innocuous Malkmus mustache of 2007. Thank gawd!

Janet Weiss FURY!

Overall, The Jicks are a band to stick around for until the end. Their five-to-six song encore (including a few tracks I’ve never heard before … already testing new material?!!!) was the best part of the night. Malkmus even had something to say about Eugene’s legendary track and field past: “Every time I see those Prefontaine posters it takes me back to watching porn in the ‘70s.” Pure ecstatic bliss (for lovers of those who have mastered the art of kicking out the jams) and a night (for some) of nostalgic Pavement moments.