“It’s turning!” shouts a bloke within the crowd, pointing on the large Lovell Telescope overlooking the principle stage, which has slowly began to revolve in the direction of us as Pavement play the sadly majestic “Right here”. It’s laborious to think about the band instigating such a chunk of theatre – in contrast to some earlier Bluedot headliners, Pavement aren’t ones for giant cosmic gestures – nevertheless it nonetheless confers a way of grandeur on the event. 31 years after their first UK present, these perennial mid-afternoon underdogs lastly really feel like bona fide competition headliners.

Final 12 months at Primavera Porto, Pavement seemed a tad uneasy with their new bill-topping standing, not helped by a setlist that leaned too closely on later, slower materials. This time they get it completely spot-on, from Bob Nastanovich enthusiastically bashing his woodblock to the opening “Silence Child” to the ultimate crunching chords of “Minimize Your Hair”. In between, they please everybody from the hardcore who’ve been right here since “Field Elder” to those that’ve discovered their option to Pavement rather more not too long ago through Spotify ghost hit “Harness Your Hopes”. The set plots an ideal course between verbose singalongs, bursts of joyful anarchy and wracked, tender moments akin to “Starlings Of The Slipstream”, for which swooping flocks of birds are projected throughout the face of the Lovell Telescope.

On-stage, it’s not simply Nastanovich having enjoyable both. Spiral Stairs performs and sings “Kennel District” like he’s simply scored the winner at Outdated Trafford, which amuses even the in any other case inscrutable Stephen Malkmus. Over his shoulder, new sixth member Rebecca Cole bobs alongside, bringing good vibes in addition to bolstering the sound. Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite provides bonus guitar heft to “Fin” earlier than a couple of randoms gatecrash the stage to shake maracas to “Two States”. And “Grounded” sounds mightier than it’s ever achieved, its excoriation of bourgeois indifference solely rising angrier over time.

At a Wowee Zowee listening social gathering earlier within the day within the Notes tent, the band gave the impression to be having fun with one another’s firm, eagerly including to the Pavement trivia mountain by revealing that Trey Anastasio of Phish actually loves the solo in “Rattled By The Rush”, and that Spiral Stairs’ mum taught Chris Isaak at college (“He was a brat!”). However when it got here to accounting for his or her continued reputation, particularly amongst these barely out of the womb first time round, they seemed charmingly befuddled. “Good songs?” stated Malkmus, hopefully. “And take a look at us!”

However we will help with that. Not many bands since Pavement have been capable of carve out such a definite place within the firmament, in love with rock music however allergic to all of its cliches, brandishing persistently catchy songs whose apparently daft and cryptic lyrics turn out to be extra profound over time.

After this, there’s simply Galway and Reykjavik, a pair extra US competition dates and a last residency in Brooklyn earlier than all of them return to their solo tasks, day jobs and racecourse quests. Malkmus has persistently dominated out the thought of penning new Pavement materials, so it could be an extended whereas earlier than we see them collectively once more. Their final reunion in 2010 fizzled out in acrimony however right here, a minimum of, they depart with the triumph they deserve.