I Love Pavement in the Springtime

In fact, I love Pavement all year round, as Tina can testify.

For those of you who have never heard of them, Pavement were an influential 'Slacker' band from Northern California, who made 5 albums before calling it a day in 1999. I, like many others, only discovered them after they split up, so I was very exited to find that they were re-uniting for a tour in 2010. As the tour was gradually announced, the one and only French date was announced, in Paris.

Their London Shows were selling out quickly, so we got 4 tickets as soon as they went on sale, as our friends Jane and Pete fancied it too, as long as we had an extra night in Paris ( Tina's condition).

We found a great Ibis Hotel near the Bastille, and managed to get TGV tickets to Paris for €100 return for the pair of us. Jane and Pete wanted to get the Eurostar over, but it cost so much to get to St Pancras from Salisbury that it worked out much cheaper to fly straight to Paris.

So, come May 7th, all four of us were up before dawn and heading for Paris, arriving at the hotel just in time for lunch. After lunch, we walked it off along the river to Notre Dame.

Then we took the Metro up to Montmarte, which was nearer the concert hall. The tube station near Sacre Couer was a lot rougher than I remember it, with crowds of North Africans selling anything from fags to mobile phones, but once you fought your way through the crowds, and up to the top of the hill, it was still worth it for the views alone.

The concert was in a venue called Zenith, in a science park built on the site of the Paris Slaughterhouse, next to the Periphique. After our experiences near Montmarte, we were a bit anxious as to what the area would be like, but need not of worried, as it was all very civilised.

The Zenith holds about 6,000 people, and was fairly full, with a good mix of ages. It wasn't all 40 somethings, there were a lot of people who must have been in nappies when the first Pavement album was released. Being in the over 40's age bracket, we forgo crowd surfing for seats next to the sound desk.

The support band were The National, a Brooklyn band who have been around for years , but are finally getting some attention. They did a very good set, similar to the one they did at Glastonbury, including one song that the lead singer performed from the middle of the crowd while he went on a walkabout.

Now for the main event.

Pavement did a fantastic 2 hour set, including most of their almost hits, and a few rarities as well. I'd seen some old clips on YouTube before, and they were a bit hit and miss, but tonight they were on top form. They played 27 songs, including most of my favorites ( no Hex though), but the highlight for me was an amazing 8 minute version of 'Fight This Generation", where Stephen Malkmus really showed why he is such a highly rated guitarist.

This is a YouTube link of Pavement performing Grounded that night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dilPvr2_pM&feature=related



And this is a great site I've found that lists and plays back complete sets of concerts.



http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pavement/2010/le-zenith-paris-france-1bd4e14c.html





It was one of, if not the best concert I have ever been to. The metro ride back into town was very civilized, so much better than London, now queues, no pushing, no hassle. We even had the energy left for a couple of nightcaps on the walk back to the hotel. Not bad considering the 5am start.






On Saturday, we walked through the Marias ....



Up past the Pompidou centre to the Louvre ...






And on to the Eiffel Tower, where the latest Paris fashion was on show (my T shirt).





For Saturday night, we tried to get into a bar that was in Jane's guidebook, but ended up finding a brilliant wine bar just round the corner instead. Then we tried a restaurant that was in the book, and that was fully booked, but we found a great bistro just round the corner instead, with some really good home cooked fresh food. A far cry from the more touristy places in the centre of town.

By the end of the evening, I was so 'relaxed' that I was speaking french to everyone, including a french guy on a scooter, who stopped us and asked for directions, and cut my attempts off with a french accented "you are not from round here, apparently" which had the girls in hysterics.


On Sunday morning, we had time for a cruise along the river before lunch on the left bank .












It was a great weekend. We got the train back, and were home by 9pm. Unfortunately Jane and Pete got Volcano-ed, so the had to spend a night at the airport Ibis, not nearly as nice as the one near the Bastille.



Pete and Jane did get home the next day, but not before the dog sitter had filled their dog with digestive biscuits.