Flashback: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at First Avenue (25 May 2003)

 

Tour Dates

• Feb 17 2003 The Blackbird, Portland, OR, USA
• Feb 25 2003 Bimbo’s 365 Club, San Francisco, CA
• Mar 21 2003 Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
• Apr 30 2003 Club Congress, Tucson, AZ
• May 3 2003 Emo’s, Austin, TX
• May 8 2003 Echo Lounge, Atlanta, GA
• May 9 2003 The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC
• May 10 2003 Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
• May 16 2003 Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
• May 14 2003 Irving Plaza, New York, NY
• May 15 2003 Irving Plaza, New York, NY
• May 20 2003 Beachland Ballroom , Cleveland, OH
• May 22 2003 Saint Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI
• May 23 2003 Metro, Chicago, IL
• May 24 2003 Todd Wehr, Milwaukee, WI
• May 25 2003 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
• May 31 2003 Berbati’s Pan, Portland, OR
• Jul 18 2003 Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn, NY
• Aug 13 2003 Tweeter Center , Mansfield, MA
• Aug 18 2003 Tweeter Center, Camden, NJ
• Aug 20 2003 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
• Aug 21 2003 Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 
• Aug 23 2003 Alpine Valley Music, East Troy, WI
• Aug 24 2003 UMB Bank Pavilion, Maryland Heights, MO
• Aug 26 2003 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
• Aug 28 2003 USANA Amphitheatre, West Valley City,
• Aug 31 2003 White River Amphitheatre, Auburn, WA
• Nov 30 2003 Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
• Dec 1 2003 El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
• Dec 3 2003 Slim’s, San Francisco, CA
• Dec 5 2003 Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
• Dec 6 2003 Showbox Comedy , Seattle, WA
• Dec 13 2003 Double Door, Chicago, IL

At this point, I’ve seen Pavement (one of my first concert in 1994) and band leader Stephen Malkmus half a dozen times now. It is because when I was living in Fresno, California, we claimed Pavement as a “local band” (when in fact they are from Stockton). If you look at the map, there’s Merced, Modesto, and then Stockton, north of Fresno. Still, we were proud of Pavement and their international stardom when they blew up with “Cut Your Hair”.

 

I’ve shaken hands with members of Pavement, and eventually did formally meet Malkmus at the Electric Fetus for an autograph in June 2005: “Earlier in the day, Malkmus was at the Electric Fetus to do an in-store performance and a meet & greet. I had him sign my Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain deluxe reissue. Malkmus is great, he was friendly and did not mind signing Pavement stuff (unlike some difficult artists). He even let me take a picture of him.”

Recently, I found out I’ve seen Malkmus in 2003, via a ticketstub I found while cleaning out my basement to move to Florida. A few things I should point out about the ticket – it is a complimentary ticket (#12). Let me explain how the First Avenue/7th Street Entry complimentary ticket system work, if you aren’t familiar. In the early days, in order to drive up attendance for some shows, First Ave staffs would give you free tickets to random shows if you are one of the first few people standing in line for one of their shows.

Since I was an avid concert goer (and generally one of the first people in line), I have received hundreds of free concert tickets. Including free tickets to see Le Tigre, Mogwai, and many others. Of course, getting a comp ticket doesn’t guarantee entry into the show. Once capacity is reached or a show is sold out, First Ave can refuse entry. I’ve never been turned away, that’s because I’m usually one of the first people in line.

I personally think that was a great system, as it awarded the most diehard First Ave fans and it does boost up attendance and also let fans discover (and become) fans of some unknown bands.

For this particular show, it was 21+ and over… and if I recall, generally 21+ shows do not do well on a late-night Sunday show (the show started at 9:30pm because shows took place much later back then). I used to stay to the encore, so waking up early to work on Monday morning was a real struggle for me.

Looking at the ticket, what is really cool is that Azita was the opening band! We saw Azita with Fred Armisen in Apr 2024 and mentioned, “Drag City recording artist Azita Youssefi (aka AZITA), from Scissor Girls, opened the show with a music set. She played some songs from Year and How Will You?, including the title track, early in her set. She apologized to the audience and recognized that most people weren’t expecting a music set. She even joked that her show is “Music for Comedians”, because Fred’s show is called “Comedy for Musicians”. Later on, she joked that Fred’s set is, “gonna be different, just a heads up.” Azita ended her 30-min with a lively song, “Gotta Get It.””

2003 Tour Dates (setlist and touring information provided by setlist.fm).