Somehow a whole year passed without me losing my precious Pavement tickets. Though they almost got thrown out twice, they survived. Last night was the first time I have ever seen Pavement live and it was one of the most amazing experiences in my life.

To be honest with you lately for the most part I have been semi-bored with shows. They seem to be lacking something. Pavement is where I found the missing link. One of the greatest things to ever happen in Indie rock is this iconic band reuniting, and you could tell by their smiles on stage, they were not taking the situation for granted.

The fans trickled in slowly mostly after openers Times New Viking took the stage. Understandable. I didn’t even know what was going on with the opening act because I just wanted to see Pavement. The crowd was sprinkled with celebrities (very lightly. also, depending on your perception of celebrity) like Brian Bell of Weezer and the Ace of Cakes crew who was there giving the guys a horse cake. Apparently this will be on a future episode of the show.

The band played around 25 songs, a few less than they played in NYC the night before. The cause of this was the 15 minute break Pavement had to take for the thunder storm. Let me tell you, we got SOAKED, and that is putting it lightly. Though it didn’t stop the crowd or the band from having fun. When you spend a year waiting for a reunion show of the best band ever, you better make sure you see it. Even for a while when you could see Stephen Malkmus from the side of the stage looking up at the sky, it looked like he just wanted to jump back on and play regardless. The band came back on and did an astonishing set that will not be forgotten.

The rumor was in the 1990s that Pavement wasn’t much of a ‘great live act.’ Fast forward to 2010 and they just blew the whole audience away. Tighter and better than ever, especially Bob Nastanovich who could scream without missing a breath. They seemed to love being Pavement again. Thats what matters most, right?

Some of the highlights of the show were “Range Life,” “Stereo,” “Zurich,” “Summer Babe,” “Father to a Sister of Thought,” “Gold Soundz,” “Cut Your Hair,” umm..okay the whole setlist.

Tomorrow I hit up round two of the band at Central Park and I couldn’t be any more excited. Pavement ist rad.

Check out the setlist below and PAVEMENT pictures after the JUMP.

Via Brooklyn Vegan Via Keith G.