Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 79/80 - 2008

79
2008/04/28, Harlow's, Sacramento CA
Elmo Delmo
Out of reaches
Hopscotch Willie
Band intro
Tuesday afternoon

By now we're deep into the 'Real emotional trash' era (it seems like years already) and yet this is the earliest recording of a 'Real emotional trash' Jicks concert supporting the just released album ('to medium acclaim' as Stephen dryly notes). As I recall the full show wasn't bad, it ranged from good to real good mostly, but the sound of the recording isn't all that pleasant on the ears, and the performance, to me, sounds a bit 'been there'. For all the improvisation these songs never had that much places to go, it seems. The Jicks were exhausting them fast.

So I picked this half hour of highlights. 'Elmo delmo' doesn't venture far from the album version, but has nice group playing, everybody doing their best to make everyone shine. 'Out of reaches' – from the live versions I've heard – must be a difficult song. There's hardly a version out there where they don't at least once end up on a really wrong chord. That said, this is a good take, Stephen's fierce soloing especially bringing the emotion of the song to life, and Mike's extended keyboard outtro is good too (though Stephen pulls the plug on it). 'Hopscotch Willie' is getting really wild and long by now. That's one that we can usually count on to spark and it sure does here.

The 'Band intro' is a half remembered relic from the january 2007 shows, that they pull out. A curiosity, really. And the second of two versions of 'Tuesday afternoon' I've heard, with heavyhanded 'Spanish trumpet' synth fills this time. Kinda dramatic, and kinda over the top, maybe. Still, nice song.

It's a perfectly fine show, but nothing much to report out of the ordinary.

80
2008/05/31, Primavera
We dance
Range life

Solo acoustic performances dot these 2008 notes. Here's Stephen at Primavera festival playing two Pavement requests. 'We dance' is much like the 2007 Pitchfork rendition (and indeed, much like the basic 'Wowee zowee' track minus overdubs). The more live versions he plays the more the coda gets extended ('Maybe we could dance, maybe we could dance, maybe we could dance dance, maybe we could dance... together / papapapapaah...'). Nice. Now I even sing those backings when I hear the album version.

'Range life' is played like a sad strumming song – which I guess, it kinda is. But here the melancholic mood hits me – this guy in the song knows he's not gonna get that range life, is he? At the end, Stephen shrugs it off, 'that was that' like he's casting off the past. I can understand it, but in this version the song is more than an old standard. It's in the now.

I have no setlist of this show, and I haven't found any other recordings yet.