I caught the Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks show last night at the Wonder Ballroom, and took full advantage of the photo pass that I was issued. (Which didn’t really seem to get me anywhere that regular ticketholders couldn’t go.) Let it be said that I am a horrible photographer. I took dozens of photos, most of which are too awful to post here. And the camera evidently knew how poor a photographer I was; after each picture, it politely asked me: “This picture is blurry. Delete?”

Thoughts on the Malkmus/Jicks set, and the Joggers’ set (along with a couple more cringe-inducing photos) after the jump.

The Joggers opened the night with their progressive, riff- and run-heavy rock. They've evolved out of the math-isms of their earlier work to embrace a more classic-rock sound, and to prove it they played a note-perfect cover of FM chestnut "Long Distance Runaround" by Yes, complete with the "Fish" coda (although they eschewed the Brit prog legends' penchant for singing in Latin by replacing the words with "la la la la"). Yes is not an easy band to emulate, but they did an incredible job.

The Joggers' new material is really strong, too, but it's quite complicated stuff, with every last corner of the songs being filled with a melodic phrase or riff. In a live context, the band played loosely, and some of the fancy musical lines seemed fluffed, not quite as precise as they needed to be. Their tightly-knit energy was also slightly at odds with the spacious Wonder Ballroom, and probably is still better suited for smaller clubs, where the audience can really get in on the action. Still, the band was obviously having a good time, and their set was a lot of fun.
Malkmus and Jicks came out and bumbled around the stage for a few minutes before even playing a note. Their set was heavy on new material, which is similarly riffy. The laid back quality of the music has a certain charm, but I don't think it sustained itself over the course of a set. In fact, Malkmus seemed at times lazy, not trying too hard or very carefully, with wrong notes, fluffed runs, and some lame improvisation. The band followed him very closely, but their leader unfocused, they were rarely able to pick up the slack.

I'm hard-pressed to detail highlights; the tunes ran into one another and were difficult to tell apart. As someone who really did like the last record and the band's exploratory extension of songs past the typical 3-minute barrier, I was surprised by how unengaging it was in a live setting. There wasn't any point where the jams "took off." It was a homecoming show, so the band was comfortable, and certainly isn't in a position where they need to win over any new fans, so my impression was that they (or at least, Malkmus) felt perfectly content to step on stage, walk through some of the chord changes, and just fuck around.