Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park

After an acrid breakup over a decade ago, one of the most influential bands of the ‘90s, Pavement, decided to reunite for a world reunion tour this summer. The Stockton, CA quintet recently played their first Chicago show in 11 years at Pitchfork Festival on July 18, but will touch down again and perform more of their beloved classics on September 13 at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.

As the story goes, the band formed in the late ‘80s in California with singer Stephen Malkmus spearheading the project. The band generated lo-fi songs with Malkmus’ signature spoken vocals and nonsensical wordplay lyrics. The band eventually signed to an indie label, and after releasing a couple of EPs, they finally dropped their first full-length in 1992, Slanted and Enchanted.

To this day, Slanted remains one of the most cherished records of the decade, especially from the indie/alt rock era. The band carved a niche as being a sort of slacker, anti-corporate band, and after four more LPs and a series of EPs, they decided to call it quits in November of 1999. It’s been speculated Malkmus just didn’t want to do the band anymore, so they officially performed their final concert as Pavement in London.

Since the breakup, Malkmus has released several successful solo records, a documentary about the band Slow Century was released in 2002 and the band released a greatest hits compilation earlier in the year entitled Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement. Pavement almost reunited in 2007 when Malkmus and multi-instrumentalist Bob Nastanovich performed a couple of Pavement songs together at Pitchfork Festival, but it wasn’t until this year when the band announced a world tour in support of their reunion.

HelloChicago Tip: Every summer the band shell at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park hosts free outdoor concerts, but the Pavement show is one of the rare times it’s not free. Even though one has to purchase tickets, seeing such an influential band live with the Chicago skyline in the background is truly an unforgettable experience.

- by Garin Pirnia, Chicago Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Garin Pirnia

Garin was raised on a healthy diet of MTV and Top 40 radio in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio, but one day found herself going to college in Los Angeles. After getting a writing degree, she somehow landed in Chicago. She's written about art, music, food and general interest for The Onion AV Club, Time Out Chicago, Chicago Innerview, The Wall Street Journal and AOL's music site Spinner.com.