Indie rock legends Pavement are coming back to Dublin. 11 years on from last playing the city, the Stephen Malkmus-fronted band will play Vicar Street on November 10, 2022 as part of their latest reunion. The show follows a string of dates in the UK, including four dates at the Roundhouse in London. Tickets for the Dublin show go on sale this Friday, September 10 at 10 AM. Best be quick.
In the mid-90s, everything was about being BIG. In the US, Nirvana had proved there was an appetite for loud, scratchy punk-influenced rock music. In the UK, bands like Oasis and Blur were showing that indie was the new mainstream, conquering the singles charts, as well as the album charts. There was big money in making big music, and a canny band – if they played the game – stood every chance of making it BIG. And in the face of such opportunity, rock’s perennial slackers made their play, and began their slow slide towards smallness. For album number three,…
The rock press has made much of Stephen Malkmus’ reinvention on Groove Denied, his first solo LP to lack any contributions (credited or otherwise) from his Jicks bandmates; publicised as an homage to the minimalism and analogue electronics of late-’70s and early-’80s post-punk, it’s been received as a left-turn for a songwriter closely associated with ’90s indie noise. Malkmus discussed the new direction with Rolling Stone recently, explaining: “I guess everyone has their distorted self-image, and I have one where I think I’m a music-maker who can go anywhere” – and though the album reflects this playful approach, one might highlight his awareness…
Stephen Malkmus will return to Dublin to play Whelans on Saturday, September 14. Set to take place almost a year after Malkmus (with the Jicks) played Vicar Street last October, the show is part of a series of solo shows in UK and Europe across September. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am priced €30 inclusive of booking fee. Revisit Zara Hedderman’s interview with Malkmus from October here. Malkmus recently released his latest solo album, Groove Denied. Stream it below.
The masterful Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, with support from Tandem Felix, at Dublin’s Vicar Street. Photos by Aaron Corr.
For over a quarter of a century, Stephen Malkmus has inspired countless aspiring musicians to pick up a guitar, form a band and write loud, dissonant melodies and playful, witty lyrics. Pavement and the Silver Jews are amongst two of the most influential bands of the 90s and 2000s. For the last seventeen years, however, Malkmus has been performing with The Jicks. Earlier this year, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks released Sparkle Hard, their tremendous seventh album. Ahead of their gig in Dublin’s Vicar Street, Malkmus spoke to Zara Hedderman about artists making music in their fifties, the process of…
With a sickeningly diverse lineup of local and international acts, both old and new, spanning more or less every genre under the glistening sun, Electric Picnic 2014 is the hottest ticket of the Irish summer, and upon exploration of the festival site (it would be unjust to ignore Electric Picnic’s attention to detail) there’s the essential Body & Soul zone, functioning as the hippie commune area of the site – the music and arts festival is, after all, the bedrock of the hippie dream – and the Trailer Park, which offers corn dogs, some cover bands and an assortment of…