PAVEMENT

One of the most popular and influential bands to come out of the American underground in the last three decades is returning to Australia next year. I OH YOU and Frontier Touring are thrilled to announce that Pavement will be performing six theatre headline shows in February/March 2023.

Recently celebrating the 30th anniversary of seminal 1992 debut album Slanted and Enchanted, Pavement will return to Australia in summer 2023. As well as their headline dates, the band will also perform at ‘musical jamboree’ Tent Pole in Geelong (VIC), and Hobart’s MONA FOMA (TAS). The band – Stephen Malkmus, Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg, Mark Ibold, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West – kicked off an extensive North American tour last week.

Frontier Members Presale kicks off Monday 19 September at 12pm (local time), before the General Public on sale Wednesday 21 September (1pm local time). Tickets via frontiertouring.com/pavement.

‘This is the most comfortable the ’90s cult indie rockers have looked in three decades, and the band and crowd bask in an ultimate “good vibes only” set’ –

loudandquiet.com

‘Watching the band run through their single “Cut Your Hair” … is a sight to behold. It still sounds fit for arenas’ – The Guardian

‘Cut Your Hair’, ‘Range Life’, ‘Gold Soundz’, ‘Stereo’ , ‘Shady Lane’, ‘Spit On A Stranger’ … Pavement’s enduring influence was on show when they made their long-awaited live return at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound in June 2022, more than a decade since they last reunited.

WATCH: Pavement live at Primavera Sound, 2022

In their decade-long early career, Pavement released five era-defining albums – Slanted And Enchanted (1992), Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994), Wowee Zowee (1995), Brighten The Corners (1997) and Terror Twilight (1999) – before disbanding in 1999. Hailed by music critic Robert Christgau as “the finest rock band of the ‘90s”, Pavement’s 2010 reunion saw them play four sold out benefit shows in NYC’s Central Park, visit Australia, and top bills of festivals including Coachella, Reading & Leeds, Primavera Sound and Pitchfork.

Pavement’s catalogue has seen a myriad of incarnations and bonus material unearthed, including career-spanning 2010 compilation Quarantine The Past, 2015 rarities collection A Secret History, Vol 1, deluxe editions of the band’s first four studio albums, and a 2019 picture disc commemorating the 25th anniversary of Wowee Zowee. Most recently, in April 2022 Matador Records dropped the deluxe reissue of Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal – an exhaustive 45-track compilation featuring the remastered album, B-sides, home demos, rehearsal tapes, live recordings, and even rough tracks from the band’s scrapped session at Sonic Youth’s Echo Canyon studio. April 2022 also saw the band’s first music video in 23 years, with 1999 b-side ‘Harness Your Hopes’ a viral and streaming hit, amassing 80+ million streams on Spotify to date and trending on TikTok.

In August 2022, Matador released a limited red/white/black splatter vinyl 30th anniversary edition of debut full-length Slanted and Enchanted, as well as the 15-track Courting Shutdown Offers demo cassette (a replica of what the band used to share with labels).