Gig of the Week - Pavement / Gersey @ The Tivoli

There are several great gigs on this week but it's impossible to go past Wednesday's show at the Tivoli that features reformed 90's indie legends Pavement.

Pavement marked the point when post-punk turned into indie rock. When their first EP, Slay Tracks (1933-1969), was released in 1989, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American music scene.

While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the late '80s, Pavement brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon. Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Though there were no overt innovations in their music, Pavement had an identity and sense of purpose that transformed the American music scene.

Throughout the '90s, they worked relentlessly, releasing records every year and touring constantly, playing both theaters and backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from the legions of jangle pop groups in the mid-'90s to scores of alternative pop groups in the '00s, who admired their slow climb to stardom.

Pavement’s first two LPs became defining soundscapes of the emerging ’90s indie movement. The debut Slanted and Enchanted abandoned the grandiose ambitions of other California rockers and assumed defining a humility and prosaic-ness that would come to dominate the sound of indie rock in future.

The band would release several fantastic albums over the decade including Wowee Zowee, the hook heavy 'Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain' and the famed 'Slanted & Enchanted'. Their set on Wednesday is expected to range their entire back catalogue resulting in a performance that is not one to miss.

Supporting Pavement are Melbourne based alternative/shoegaze band 'Gersey'.

Formed in 1997, Gersey built up a fanatically loyal fan base with the release of albums Hope Springs (2000), Storms Dressed As Stars (2002) and No Satellites (2006). They toured extensively, both locally and internationally, and played festivals around the country including Big Day Out, Laneway Festival, Falls Festival and Pyramid Rock. They have also supported such luminaries as The Flaming Lips, Wilco, Mogwai and Mercury Rev.