gbvmatador21

Matador celebrated 21 years in Vegas

by BBG

Guided By Voices at Matador 21 (via)
GBV

“Anyone who walked into the popular casino during the three-day venture witnessed a culture shock like no other as hundreds of well-established, middle-aged rockers filled the building to see label legends Sonic Youth, Pavement, Belle and Sebastian, Guided by Voices and more. Performing inside the small and intimate Pearl, most of the bands were playing in Vegas for the first time.

“It has run smoothly but with a lot of help from the staff and all the people that are working for us,” said founder of Matador Records, Chris Lombardi. “It’s come together. We were very conscious of all the potential snafus that could arise and so far it’s been fun.”

Potential snafus were rife but any real problems were kept to a minimum during the first two days, besides Pavement’s performance on Friday. Having paved the way for some of the most well-known artists of our generation, (think Weezer and Ben Kweller), the ’90s rockers had continuous difficulties with their sound that caused problems both onstage and offstage for the band.

But that didn’t seem to faze the crowd, which was made up of fans from all over the world, all who were more than ecstatic to see their favorite Matador artists. The festival went so well, actually, that it’s kind of surprising.” [The Rebel Yell]

While NYers were fast asleep and trying to stay warm at 5AM, Matador 21 was officially coming to a close in the Las Vegas desert early Monday morning (10/4) with a two hour set from Guided By Voices. Over the course of a full-set and two encores, both Hamish Kilgour (The Clean) and Matt Sweeney (Chavez) made unscheduled appearances with GBV (as a stage-diver/crowdsurfers) as the band tore through classics like “A Salty Salute”, “Tractor Rape Chain”, “I Am A Scientist”, and around 30+ (!) others.

The label’s 21st anniversary party kicked off on Friday with sets from Pavement and Sonic Youth (who played the Hollywood Bowl in LA) along with Chavez, Fucked Up, Guitar Wolf (whose flights were delayed, forcing a late Friday night performance), and Harlem. Saturday featured a headlining set from Belle & Sebastian (who recently played Williamsburg Waterfront), in addition to Spoon, Superchunk, Cat Power, Perfume Genius, Come, Esben & the Witch, Cold Cave, and Girls. Collaborations seemed to be the order of the day: Yo La Tengo hopped on stage with The Clean, Hamish returned the favor, Ted Leo joined Liz Phair

A selection of videos and setlists from the festival, below….


Guided By Voices – “A Salty Salute” / “Tractor Rape Chain”

Guided by Voices “Under the Bushes Under the Stars” LIVE Matador at 21 10/2/10

Guided by Voices “Lethargy” LIVE Matador at 21 10/2/10

Guided by Voices “Long Live the Weekend” LIVE Matador at 21 10/2/10

Guided by Voices “A Good Flying Bird” LIVE Matador at 21 10/2/10

Guided By Voices – “Pimple Zoo” / “Closer You Are”

CHAVEZ Setlist 10/1/10 (via)
Chavez

SONIC YOUTH Setlist 10/1/10 (via)
Sonic Youth

SUPERCHUNK Setlist 10/2/10
Throwing Things
Skip Steps 1&3
My Gap Feels Weird
Digging For Something
Detroit Has a Skyline
Seed Toss
Mower
Learned To Surf
Cast Iron
Slack Motherfucker
Precision Auto

THE CLEAN Setlist 10/3/10 (via)
The Clean

LIZ PHAIR Setlist 10/3/10 (via)
Supernova
Divorce Song
Stratford-On-Guy
Nashville
Fuck And Run (duet with Ted Leo)

CAT POWER Setlist 10/3/10 (via)
Cat Power

GUIDED BY VOICES Setlist 10/3/10 (via)
salty salute
shocker in gloomtown
tractor rape chain
pimple zoo
closer you are
buzzards and dreadfule crowes
valuable knife
cutoutwitch
hotfreaks
lethargy
Weedking
A Tobin Sprout song
motor away
“babies and gentlemen
snother song”
striped white jets
“high 5 from ham”
MatterEaterLad
GoldHeart Queen
goldstar robotboy
Awful Bliss
14 Cheerleader Coldfront
My Impression Now
I am a scientist
My Son Cool
16 cups coffee water lecture
Echoes Myron
game pricks
exit flagger
LargeHeartedBoy
“put the sign back on goddammit”
johnny appleseed
smothered in hugs
don’t stop now
quality of armor
Some Drilling Implied