Band 2: Pavement in Montreal
When I left off last week, I’d just finished an Iron & Wine benefit in Austin. I needed to get on a plane to Montreal, so after the show I had to keep going!
Checked out of the Driskill and dragged all my luggage to meet Spoon sound man Jeff Byrd for a coffee at Frank before my flight. I’d first met Jeff in a hotel bar in years ago in Portugal, and after a few glasses of nice but overpriced fortified wine we were fast friends. He’s now one of the group of friends I see around the world in catering tents and at festivals and in hotel lobbies. This time I just happened to catch him while he was at home in Austin for a change.
Frank has some very nice people working there (the barista let me print out my Canadian work visa in her office), and after two drinks (cortado was king) I was in a taxi to the airport. I was headed to the Osheaga festival for the next three days. Pavement were playing Saturday, and Sonic Youth were playing Sunday. I’ve missed two Sonic Youth shows this year and that Saturday was one of them. When Sonic Youth played Prospect Park, Mark Ibold was in Canada with Pavement (along with me and SY’s tour manager), which meant they couldn’t play anything from the past ten years. For the fans (10,000 people showed up, I heard?) that translated to a face-peeling set of killer old songs. Man, I wish I could’ve been there! They brought Luc, their old monitor guy, up to NYC to fill in for me. He’d retired in 2003 after having a baby with Laura from Superchunk. Some guys have all the luck!