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Photo: Melissa Moore


“I’d say it’s nice to be back,” remarked Bob Nastanovich not long into Pavement’s show last night at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California. “But I’ve never fucking been here before!”

True enough, Bobby boy. The jocks pumping their fists to “Cut Your Hair,” the chick doing the Phish-fan noodle dance to “Stereo,” the countless balding dudes diluting their beers with tears during “Here” — this was definitely new territory for arguably the greatest indie-rock band of all time. Put it this way: Yesterday a guy tweeted that he was working security at the Pavement show. Even if Twitter had existed when the group originally broke up in 1999, there’s no way that would’ve have happened; back then, bouncers were taught to ignore bands like this.

Yet if the scent of nostalgia hung undeniably heavy over Pavement’s first North American reunion show — a relatively intimate warm-up gig before their big Sunday-night slot at Coachella — frontman Stephen Malkmus and his mates seemed stoked to soak it up. Leading the group through a two-hour set packed with college-radio hits (remember those?), the singer pulled faces, flipped his hair and hopped on one leg like a bunny on his birthday. Nastanovich, meanwhile, appeared to have spent his decade away from music perfecting a court-jester routine that was pretty much perfect to begin with.

Pavement spent some considerable time earlier this year rehearsing in Malkmus’s homebase of Portland, but at the Fox — where the audience included Britt Daniel of Spoon and Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox — they still sounded sloppy as hell (in a good way). Drummer Steve West motored “Shady Lane” with Sunday-driver insouciance, while “Rattled by the Rush” had a swampy blues-rock vibe complete with Screaming Trees-style harmonica solo. It’s probably time, too, that we acknowledge the importance of Mark Ibold’s bass: Last night his playing provided a weird muscularity that helped illustrate the difference between Pavement and so many of the tired-ass indie bands they’ve inspired over the years; in “Spit on a Stranger,” especially, you couldn’t not hear how crucial a part he is of the band’s attack.

Evidently enjoying themselves — “Are you happy?” guitarist Scott Kannberg asked at one point, then added “We’re happy” — Pavement did two encores, mostly of stuff from Slanted and Enchanted, their landmark 1992 debut. “I was dressed for success,” Malkmus sang in “Here,” “But success, it never comes.” He resisted changing those words last night, but only because he didn’t have to.

Set list:

“Silence Kit”
“Ell Ess Two”
“Give It a Day”
“Frontwards”
“No Life Singed Her”
“Father to a Sister of Thought”
“Rattled by the Rush”
“Kennel District”
“In the Mouth a Desert”
“Shady Lane”
“Unfair”
“Spit on a Stranger”
“Grounded”
“Two States”
“Range Life”
“Perfume-V”
“Gold Soundz”
“Fight This Generation”
“Summer Babe”
“Cut Your Hair”
“The Hexx”
“Date w/ IKEA”
“Trigger Cut”
“Starlings of the Slipstream”
“Box Elder”
“Here”
“Stereo”
“Zurich Is Stained”
“Loretta’s Scars”
“Conduit for Sale!”

It’s fitting that the Specials chose Los Angeles as the location for their first reunion shows in the United States in nearly three decades. Southern California has long proven to be the American ska scene’s ground zero, spawning the likes of Sublime, No Doubt, Operation Ivy and Rancid, among others — all of whom were both clearly influenced by the U.K. “2 Tone” legends; Specials lead singer Terry Hall even co-wrote the hit “Our Lips Are Sealed” by archetypal L.A. band the Go-Gos.

So when the band hit the stage for a sold-out show at downtown Los Angeles’ Club Nokia last night, it felt like a homecoming. While missing founding member Jerry Dammers, the band otherwise featured all original members, save Dammers’ keyboardist replacement and a crack three-piece horn section. And despite the gap in years since the Specials’ last U.S. tour, when the band kicked into “Do the Dog” as its opening number, it was clear nothing had been lost in the interim. From the first note, everyone in the nearly 10-piece band played with a manic intensity that wouldn’t suggest its members were in their fifties. For the majority of the sprawling, 22 song set — drawn from the band’s classic first two albums and assorted singles — most numbers careened full stop into the next with startling, infectious velocity. If only all reunion tours felt so vital and fresh. Right off the bat, it was clear this was the real deal and not a money grab.

“Do the Dog” was an appropriate starter, its opening lines — “All you punks and all you teds/National Front and natty dreads/Mods, rockers, hippies and skinheads/Keep on fighting ’til you’re dead” — sounded like a call to arms for the multiracial tribes assembled, and a prescient reflection on the audience’s behavior. By the fourth song, “Up To You,” the crowd had grown unruly in their excitement — a little too authentic to the spirit of the original punks. “If you spit anymore, I’ll dive down and break your head,” Hall exclaimed with brimming vitriol at the start of the fourth song, “Up To You”; the rough atmosphere continued, however, with fights breaking out sporadically and the stage repeatedly invaded by audience members. Then again, the hectic vibes radiating through the venue proved this was no mere nostalgia trip: it only reflected the continued significance of the music’s relentless riddims and inner-city tension.

Any drama, however, didn’t detract from the incredible chemistry and musical interplay between its nattily attired members: ska is a music built on precision and control, and here the Specials triumphed, moving from stop-on-a-dime uptempo grooves to deeper, dubby textures effortlessly. Drummer John Bradbury thrilled with machine-gun rimshots and hyperactive hi-hat; guitarists Roddy Byers and Lynval Golding added strikingly soulful solos to songs like “Blank Expression”; and bassist Horace Panter’s crisply sinister basslines never faltered. The two frontmen, however, proved a study in crucial contrasts, meanwhile. Toaster Neville Staple was all gleeful dance power, skanking constantly and hyping the crowd with glee; Terry Hall, meanwhile, evoked a bluebeat Johnny Rotten, roiling with nervous energy and sarcasm, gripping the mike stand aggressively and even pulling back from the spotlight at times. Dammer’s absence proved most notable in songs from the band’s second album, 1980’s More Specials: on record, tracks like “Stereotype/Stereotypes, Pt. 2” featured an ironic muzak influence and studio trickery, all of which was dispensed here in lieu of sweaty immediacy.

Seeing the Specials live drove home the artfulness of the band’s songwriting, which could be potentially lost in the performance’s driving power: hearing a crowd sing in unison the choruses to classics like “A Message To You, Rudy” conveyed just how indelible their hooks remain. Instead of seeming dated, the songs’ themes came off timeless — if anything, more relevant today than when they were released in the ‘80s. The nuclear-war paranoia of “Man At C & A” and the economic-doldrums dub dirge “Ghost Town” (which made for a truly affecting encore) to the growing pains of shifting racial attitudes (nearly every song) could be ripped from today’s headlines. “Sorry it took a lifetime to get us back here,” Golding said midway through the set, and the apology felt apt: another 30 years is truly too long to wait for music so trenchant and powerful, no matter when it’s played.

Set list:

“Do The Dog”
“(Dawning Of A) New Era”
“Gangsters”
“It’s Up To You”
“Monkey Man”
“Rat Race”
“Hey, Little Rich Girl”
“Blank Expression”
“Doesn’t Make It Alright”
“Stupid Marriage”
“Concrete Jungle”
“Friday Night, Saturday Morning”
“Stereotype/Stereotypes, Pt. 2″
“Man at C & A”
“A Message To You, Rudy”
“Do Nothing”
“Little Bitch”
“Nite Klub”
“Too Much Too Young”
“You’re Wondering Now”

Encore:
“Ghost Town”
“Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)”

Photo: Tullberg/Getty
“Proper fucking noise!” John Lydon declared with a crooked grin on Tuesday, facing a crowd at Club Nokia in Los Angeles for the opening night of Public Image Ltd.’s first U.S. tour in 18 years. “If you want to be mellow, that’s fine by me. If you want to squeal like a pig, that’s fucking fine by me.”

For nearly two hours, Lydon and the reformed PiL reignited loud and brooding songs from across the band’s history, in a show that doubled as a warm-up gig for the band’s Friday performance at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. “What a fucking audience,” Lydon said happily. “The only one spitting is me.”

Lydon twice left a lasting mark on the modern evolution of rock & roll. As Johnny Rotten, he was a punk rock originator, playing frontman and instigator for the tragically short-lived Sex Pistols, and then quickly went about obliterating that movement as a post-punk pioneer at the center of the more experimental Public Image Ltd. And he did both before he even turned 21.

In 2010, Lydon appeared onstage less like a young man who might jump down your throat than immovable object, his provocative vocals rooted not only in rage but experience. He wailed with real pain during “Death Disco,” a song written as his mother was dying, as guitarist Lu Edmonds unraveled intense, ringing riffs like a loaded spring.

There were no Pistols songs played (unlike earlier tours) and none needed, as PiL operated amid swirling dark clouds of noise, emphasizing the brooding, uncompromising tone of PiL’s sound. The group’s early signature song, “Public Image,” was not far removed from the raw, straight-ahead rock of the Pistols, but with a guitar sound that became the template for U2’s the Edge and other players. “Albatross” was all post-punk gloom and slicing riffs, while the deep grooves of “Religion” were provocative and riveting, as Lydon turned toward drummer Bruce Smith and bassist Scott Firth and said: “Turn up the bass! Do you want more bass?”

Fans sang back at the appropriate moments, as if PiL hadn’t been out of action all these years. After a shout-along to “Disappointed,” Lydon announced, “I need to take a piss and I need to catch my breath. You don’t mind if we take our break now, do ya? I’m fucking desperate!” He was back onstage after a few minutes.

Lydon has taken some abuse in recent years for appearing in a butter commercial back in Britain and for joining, and then abandoning, the cast of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, among other TV projects. But he’s never watered down he essential persona, and it was in full bloom amid the affectionate taunting and ranting between songs, his eyes bulging as always.

After the tribal beat and more shredding from Edmonds on a dissonant “Flowers of Romance,” Lydon leered at his fans and advised them, “Let that into your bowels!”

Set List:

“This is Not A Love Song”
“Poptones”
“Length”
“Albatross”
“Death Disco”
“Flowers of Romance”
“Psychopath”
“Warrior”
“USLS 1″
“Disappointed”
“Religion”
“Bags”
“Chant”
“Memories” ”
Public Image”

Encore:
“Sun”
“Rise”
“Open Up”

Conventional reunited bands give fans what’s expected. The often heavy but always mischievous Bay Area quintet Faith No More launched their first local show in 12 years at the Warfield Theatre last night with an accurate rendering of Peaches & Herb’s “Reunited,” the ultimate disco-era, slow-dance anthem. Their suits were so prom-ready that each left lapel was pinned with a boutonniere. While singer Mike Patton crooned and waved with aplomb, his fellow members rode the smooth soul groove as if their hot tub payments depended on it.

Despite their mainstream popularity in 1990 with the rap-rock anthem “Epic,” Faith No More’s American success is most accurately measured by the number of bands they inspired — Limp Bizkit, Korn, Linkin Park, Incubus and many others. While MTV turned a cold shoulder to FNM’s experimental 1992 album Angel Dust, the group became bigger than ever in most every other territory, and is still regarded as a major overseas attraction. Since last August, the band that began in 1981 and split in 1998 has toured and played major festivals in Europe, Israel, Mexico, South America, New Zealand, and Australia.

All this activity has clearly sharpened the band’s reflexes: Deep into the set, the group abruptly pulled the plug on “Midlife Crisis” right before the final chorus. The audience sang it without accompaniment, and without missing a beat, the band launched into several introductory bars of Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke,” and then segued back into “Midlife” ’s chorus. Mike Bordin’s experience as Ozzy Osbourne’s rhythmic disciplinarian was evident: No matter how many musical curve balls the others threw, this master drummer kept the beat rock-steady: “Evidence” glided like a jazzy Steely Dan jam; thrashing metal workouts like “Surprise! You’re Dead” and “Cukoo for Caca” set mosh pits in motion, while covers of the Commodores’ “Easy,” the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard “This Guy’s in Love With You,” and the Chariots of Fire soundtrack theme song all sounded as slick as they should.

American opportunities to see the reformed group remain rare: After its three sold-out dates at San Francisco’s Warfield, the only shows so far confirmed are Coachella and a pair of July appearances in Brooklyn. When Patton and keyboardist Roddy Bottum expressed their enthusiasm for opening acts Pop-o-Pies and Trannyshack’s metal/goth/industrial drag spectacle, the audience responded lukewarmly, and a show of hands revealed that many of the fans gathered that night were from out of town. “We’re trying to do a hometown show for a crowd of fucking tourists,” Patton spat out with a theatrical disgust that began when “Epic” was met with polite applause.

He rallied the crowd through “Just a Man” with hip-hop hand-waving exercises, and conducted the band with crotch-grabbing jerks and backhanded finger flickering that suggested one of Bugs Bunny’s classic routines. Faith No More’s members may now all be middle-aged, but they still keep their tunes loony.

Set List:
“Reunited”
“From Out of Nowhere”
“Land of Sunshine”
“Caffeine”
“Evidence”
“The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”
“Chinese Arithmatic”
“Last Cup of Sorrow”
“Cuckoo for Caca”
“Easy”
“Ashes to Ashes”
“Midlife Crisis”
“Surprise! You’re Dead”
“King for a Day”
“Epic”
“Just a Man”

“Chariots of Fire”
“Stripsearch”
“Digging the Grave”

“This Guy’s in Love with You”
“We Care a Lot”

“Introduce Yourself”

Related Stories:

• Faith No More Roar Back to Life at London Reunion Show
• Faith No More Announce First East Coast Reunion Show

Photo: Buckner/Getty
Though he may not legally be able to be funny on television — at least not until his new TBS show premieres in November — Conan O’Brien kicked off his 32-city North American live comedy tour on Monday night with old friends, unexpected guests and a giant inflatable bat. And he was extremely funny.

“This is the first time anyone has ever paid to see me perform,” O’Brien informed the delirious sold-out crowd at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon, before getting in his first dig at NBC:
“But people have paid to make me go away.”

With no couch or desk in sight, Conan lorded over the proceedings from the front of the stage, flanked by longtime sidekick Andy Richter and backed by the very band that spent 17 years with him on TV — without leader Max Weinberg.

The show started with the former Tonight Show Band — now the Legally Prohibited Band — ripping through Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” with trombone player Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg taking the lead on vocals.

For the next 90 minutes, Conan mixed live segments of comedy and music with pre-recorded material shown on a screen behind the stage that served to transition from one piece to the next.

The vibe was much more Late Night than Tonight Show, with Conan strolling on stage looking like a paler, redheaded Barry Gibb, complete with full beard, no tie, and the top two buttons undone on his shirt. The content of the show occasionally strayed to places he’s never gone on TV, with a smattering of profanities tossed in to give the show an edgier feel.

After a lengthy standing ovation greeted him, he admitted to missing the nightly adoration from a live audience. “You have no idea how shallow I am,” he cracked.

Conan never mentioned his former employer by name, but did take a few jabs, most notably in a series of video bits featuring Conan as a Dr. Evil-esque “generic network executive.” The most direct acknowledgment of his disappointment over losing the Tonight Show job came in a monologue discussing the “eight levels of grief over losing your talk show,” which included stages such as denial, anger and “36 hours of Red Bull and Halo.”

Though his trademark self-deprecation permeated his performance, like when he joked about having “no ass” while donning the ridiculous purple suit Eddie Murphy wore in his stand-up film Raw, O’Brien exuded defiant confidence throughout the night, bolstered by a crowd that roared with approval of nearly everything he did.

He also used the format to show off his musical chops, strapping on a guitar for his personalized version of “On the Road Again” and an unfinished original called “The Girl Who Looked Like Conrad Bain,” which he claims to have been writing for 18 years.

And for those concerned that Conan’s settlement with NBC would mean the disappearance of some of his most beloved characters and comedy bits, such worries were squashed when the Masturbating Bear made an early appearance. But in a half-joking concession that his use of the bear may be unauthorized, Conan came up with a new plan. So long, Masturbating Bear — hello, Self-Pleasuring Panda.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog drew some of the biggest laughs of the night in a pre-taped bit, introducing himself as “the only dog who hasn’t been banged by Jesse James or Tiger Woods” before launching into a tirade that used clever sound editing to bring it a local touch.

The reintroduction of the “Walker, Texas Ranger Lever” was arguably the most popular segment of the evening. Renamed the “Chuck Norris Rural Policeman Handle,” special guest Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock joined Conan and Andy onstage to give it a pull.

And then there was the night’s signature non sequitur: the huge inflatable creature Conan claims to have purchased from Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell tour.

Other guests included Spoon, which performed “I Summon You,” and comedian and ex-Tonight Show writer Deon Cole, who did a short stand-up set.

At the start of the night, Conan copped to modest expectations for the tour, saying he hoped that attendees left “thinking that was sort of worth it.” But by the time O’Brien was tearing into a reflective “I Will Survive” an hour and a half later, it was clear that the formerly devastated members of Team Coco couldn’t be happier with his transformation from late-night pariah to traveling folk hero.

Related Stories:

• Conan O’Brien Recruits Will Ferrell, Beck for Final Episode “Free Bird”
• “Fallon” ’s ?uestlove Sides With Conan O’Brien in Late-Night Battle
• Rolling Stones Give Conan O’Brien “Satisfaction” as “Tonight” Books Neil Young for Last Show