Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 45/46 - 2003

45
2003/05/23, The Milwaukee show

1. “Summer Babe”
2. “In the Mouth a Desert”
3. “Zurich is Stained”
4. “Here”
5. “Two States”
6. “Frontwards”
7. “Shoot The Singer”
8. “Elevate Me Later”
9. “Gold Soundz”
10. “Range Life”
11. “We Dance”
12. “Rattled By The Rush”
13. “Brinx Job”
14. “AT & T”
15. “Stereo”
16. “Starlings Of The Slipstream”
17. “Fin”
18. “Spit on a Stranger”
19. “The Hexx”
Encore:
20. “Phantasies”
21. “Jenny And The Ess-Dogg”
22. “Water and A Seat”
23. “Dark Wave”
24. “Us”

Just for completeness sake, I'm adding the famed Milwaukee Show, where the Jicks played songs from all of Stephen's albums in chronological order. Should've really done some Lakespeed at the start, though, right? Back in the days before the reunion this was like the holy grail.

I can imagine it must've been amazing to have been there.
On the other band, I've only ever heard one recording of the show, and it was just about possible to make out the setlist, but that was about it. Not a pleasant listening experience. So, it's not in my collection anymore.

Still something of a holy grail then.
If there's a good (or even medium well done) recording of this, let me know.
46
2003?
Need your love (Status quo)
Yellow/here (Coldplay/Pavement)
Will you dare (Replacements)

A trio of covers – I've no idea when or where they come from. They show the Jicks getting looser and looser in their approach to covers. Most of these sound like they've been rehearsed at least half a time. But they do show these guys' (and girl's) encyclopedic knowledge of music lore. I don't know why but my gut places them sometime around 2003, so here we go.

Of the three, I have a soft spot for 'Need your love' – dumb riff rock fun. I had no idea this was a Status Quo song until just a couple of days ago when Stephen named 'Ma Kelly's...' as one of his underrated favorite records in the recent issue of Mojo. It's so repetitive it passes from braindead straight into zombie goodness. One of my first concerts was Status Quo in the mid-80s (with my dad). They'll always be alright with me, even if they suspiciously didn't play this song then. Better than 'In the army now' though. I must search out that record.

The 'Yellow'/'Here' mash-up sounds as bad as you expect. And besides, I don't recognize half of the 'Yellow' sections as actually belonging to the Coldplay song. Not that I know the song particularly well, and I'm not about to start now. This performance is just to prove the point that the songs are quite similar, and, as Stephen recounts, he wanted to do it cause he saw an interview with Chris Martin where he claimed not to be aware of Pavement. (actually that would explain a lot!). Stephen: 'I used to say the same thing when I was stealing songs.' John: 'You've gone straight now.' Stephen: 'Luckily I never had a hit.'

'Will you dare' – more 80s underground rock from the Jicks' golden age of youth (just kidding). They rehearsed it so well they have to hum to tricky bridge section! Absolutely pointless, but I suppose it's fun if you like the original. It's not really part of my background, but I hang on to it nevertheless.