I didn’t have to attend Boston Calling to know the Sinclair would be the better venue to see Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks this past weekend. I can go on about my gripes with Boston Calling or how awesome the Sinclair is, but I’d rather skip to The Jicks’ music.
Malkmus and the Jicks took the stage with little fanfare. Malkmus, the band frontman and primary songwriter, made a few obligatory cracks about the fact that it was Friday night (cue woos from the crowd), but for the most part, he didn’t deviate from the script.
Malkmus has a stately stage presence. He exudes the confidence of a musician who has already “made it” and an aloofness which demands your attention. Silver-haired, sporting a collared shirt undone to the fourth button and tucked into jeans, Malkmus reminded me more of a disorderly grad student rather than an international rockstar — a grad student that I would totally sleep with.
Effortlessly shredding guitar licks, like that in “Out of Reaches,” he looked serene. But, my favorite parts were when Malkmus would flash a peace sign or do a two-finger salute, injecting an endearing goofiness into an otherwise slick performance.
Malkmus and the Jicks’ entire performance was tight and well-choreographed. While most people kept their eyes on Malkmus, the rest of the band was equally awe-inspiring. Drummer Jake Morris won most animated performer of the night, nailing the polyrhythmic drum parts that appear throughout most of the band’s songs. And keyboardist Mike Clark gracefully churned out melodies which range in timbre from grand piano to xylophone.
Crowd favorites were the more upbeat tunes like “Hades” and “Jo Jo’s Jacket,” which gave us a chance to yell lyrics like “I’m not what you think I am, I’m the king of Siam,” as loud as we could. (I think that all of us want to be the King of Siam a little bit.)
When it came time for the encore, most of the crowd — myself included — was hoping they would play some old Pavement favorites. But the band chose to end with the bittersweet “Freeze the Saints,” off of Malkmus’s third solo album Face the Truth. The refrain “done is good, but done well is so much fucking better,” may be Stephen’s best rebuttal to those still yelling requests for “Summer Babe” at the Jicks’ shows. Pavement is done, and Malkmus would rather play well.
