Pavement performed a wretched cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” on Saturday, July 17th at an Oakland, California festival in what was clearly a bit of fun for the band.
The indie rock progenitors engaged in a bit of what English chaps like Zeppelin would call “taking the piss” out of the guitar-god-level slow jam while on their opening date of a short U.S. tour at Mosswood Meltdown. The clunky cover by a group that belies the idea of guitar-shredding rock stardom was also obviously the band having fun at their own expense. See fan video of the cover below.
Pavement transitions from their late-blooming hit “Harness Your Hopes,” a 1999 song that found unexpected streaming success in 2017 and went viral a couple years later, into a partial take on “Stairway to Heaven,” playing on similarities of the intro to their tune to the 1971 composition. Frontman Stephen Malkmus sang mostly nonsense lyrics, at one point rhyming “fandangos” with “I like mangoes” before atonally moaning in a humorous impression of Robert Plant. The guitarists managed some excellent six-string stunts.
Their rendition showed the band was loose and having fun at the onset of their tour, which next hits St. Paul, Minnesota on July 21st. Fans can look for tickets to any dates on Pavement’s week-long U.S. tour here.
The band blasted through a 25-song set at Mosswood Meltdown that kicked off with “Silence Kid” and featured “Cut Your Hair,” “Range Life,” and “Summer Babe” before ending with an encore of “AT&T.”
Pavement released their first new studio recording in 25 years in 2025, a cover of Jim Pepper’s “Witchitai-To,” which was on the soundtrack for Alex Ross Perry’s biopic Pavements. The band also made their first late-night TV appearance in 15 years last year.
Pavement 2026 Tour Dates:
07/21 – Saint Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
07/22 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
07/23 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater & Ballroom
07/25 – Richmond, VA @ The National
07/27 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
07/28 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
