The venue is already busy and further filling throughout the support set from Joanna Gruesome. Such is the cult following for Stephen Malkmus, shortly before the headliners take to the stage, a young couple from Brighton sheltering from the rain outside while smoking cigarettes are chatting with some strangers about how they’re following the tour around the UK as a ‘holiday’ of sorts.
Chant’s of “Malky Malky, Malky Malky” erupt from a section of the crowd as Malkmus and the Jicks take their positions, leading bass player Joanna Bolme to question if the locals hadn’t “thought of a new one yet” before opening with ‘Tigers’ from 2011’s ‘Mirror Traffic’.
Malkmus cuts the figure of someone far younger than his forty-seven years would suggest. Goofing around throughout, smiling and laughing with band mates and visibly enjoying every minute of the show which shines through their sound too – this is a fun gig and Malkmus is happy not to take himself too seriously, but his mastery of language can’t be ignored. Despite his frequently dry vocal delivery there’s word-play, puns, corny jokes and poetic rhyming on show and the music holds it own. Now in their fourteenth year together (with a few staff changes) they run a tight ship and guitarist/ keyboard player Mike Clark is more than happy to take his turn at coming forward for some guitar hero moments as they tear through a set made up mainly of tracks from their last two albums.
With only a few days to get to grips with the new album the crowd were treated to a Pavement cover, ‘Harness Your Hope’, as part of the two track encore. Many of the better known tracks are missed out of the set, namely ‘Forever 28’ and ‘Senator’, but with ‘Wigout At Jagbags’ providing so many excellent new tracks they were barely missed.
