"'Get ya cock out?’" Stephen Malkmus mimics in convincing Manc twang. "That's so...déclassé!" Rather than lobby the former Pavement frontman in painfully predictable fashion, tonight’s audience opts for more left-field interaction.
That crowd, sweltering in an uncomfortably rammed hall, is all smiles throughout, and uncommonly engaged across the room. It’s a telling mix of older heads and younger devotees (support act Joanna Gruesome – excellent and well-received tonight – are caught nodding approvingly) and The Jicks play off that response and each other, elevating their elastic grooves and switchback melodies. They are an increasingly distinct and capable outfit; note in particular bassist Joanna Bolme, whose playing is light of touch and heavy on detail.
Much of tonight's set is drawn from new album, Wig Out at Jagbags. Planetary Motion and Surreal Teenagers stake claims for a place in the canon. Every other intro raises a cheer: Jenny and the Ess-Dog is a blast from the past, but a ‘cover’ of Harness Your Hopes is the only blast from the past-past. But who needs Pavement crumbs when Malkmus’s six-album solo repertoire is starting to put it to shame?
The man himself is in high spirits, performing hip-swinging shimmies and despatching a series of solos fashioned around that trademark squeal of overdrive and sustain. His often ignored musicianship highlights a thrilling duality. Indie prime mover? Or crafty classicist? His latest work, cut through with a sharp pop sensibility, finds accord between the tricksy and the accessible. It’s just those crowd management skills – “Oh – Black Book! Get Black Book out? Huh? What?!” – that leave a little to be desired. [Gary Kaill]