Concert review: Pixies and Mission of Burma, December 2
Published December 05, 2004
Finally, the Pixies. Damn. Opening with “Bone Machine,” the band romped through a set that was heavy on early material from Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim (while Doolittle was performed almost in its entirety, they only included one track, “U-Mass,” which was actually one of their earliest songs, from their final album Trompe Le Monde). The band seemed to be relishing the spotlight, drawing energy from the crowd—which was finally pogoing, moshing, and “passing the guy”—and turning it around and channelling it into fiercer and fiercer performances, really almost daring the crowd, saying, “We can outlast you.” And they did—this is the first show where I’ve seen multiple people carried out of the crowd after having fainted or otherwise been overwhelmed.
Mostly the songs were as they had been originally recorded, though they showed no signs of rust for their faithfulness to the original conception. A major exception was “Mr. Grieves,” “Nimrod’s Son,” in which “Frank Black/Black Francis/Charles Thompson” slowed down the second verse to half tempo, to totally devastating impact, and “Vamos,” during which Joey Santiago set up a wall of feedback, set his guitar on a stand, caught a drumstick tossed by David Lovering, and proceeded to play the feedback like a theremin with his hands, the stick, and even his amp cord.
As for setlist, I can only give a rough report as my brain exploded partway through the show, but other songs played included “Velouria” (which was far rockinger than the recorded version), “Is She Weird,” “Wave of Mutilation” (fast version), “Debaser,” “Tame,” “I Bleed,” “Here Comes Your Man,” “Dead,” “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” “Mr. Grieves,” “Crackity Jones” (yes indeedy), “No. 13 Baby,” “Hey,” “Gouge Away,” “Gigantic,” “Where Is My Mind?,” “Broken Face,” “Break My Body,” “Something Against You,” “Cactus,” “The Holiday Song,” “In Heaven,” and “Caribou.”
The onstage chemistry was interesting, with Kim, with a grin that I’ve seen described as “beatific” but I would have to characterize as “shit-eating,” mostly hanging out back at the drum kit with David Lovering, leaving Charles and Joey Santiago covering vast isolated territories up front. But there were some good moments as well, such as Charles busting Kim’s chops for blowing the surprise intro to “In Heaven,” and the Waltons-style “Goodnight Charles…goodnight Joey…goodnight Kim…goodnight David” that lasted for about two minutes in various combinations and repetitions.
The Pixies still have a few shows left on this tour. I don’t care who you have to kill to get a ticket if you haven’t seen them yet. Go have your mind blown.
Originally posted at Jarrett House North.
- Concert review: Pixies and Mission of Burma, December 2
- Published: December 05, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Punk Rock, Music: Indie Rock, Music: Alternative Rock
- Writer: Timothy Jarrett
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It was great seeing all the kids five-ten years younger than me singing along to songs that even I wasn't old enough to remember when they were written.
The coolest addition to the setlist from the two nights I went was "Head On," their cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain song. I've never heard it sound so good and it was probably the highlight of both nights for me, in addition to the usual songs everyone loves. I love the original Jesus and Mary Chain song, but their live version blew it away and gave it teeth. Playing that song demonstrates the respect the Pixies have for their audience, digging deep to play a song they didn't play last year in their first warm-up to this tour and kicking the shit out of a song that was just average and almost forgettable as a cover when they first recorded it on album. The Black Francis screams and growls never sounded so good as on that chorus, which is almost too beautiful and optimistic -- "makes you wanna feel, makes you wanna blow the stars from the sky" -- to fit in the surreal world of the Pixies, yet finally did in a completely unexpected and surprising way. I hope a lot of the other fans in the audience tonight echoed those lyrics: "And the way I feel tonight / I could die and I wouldn't mind ..."
There will never be a band smarter or cooler than the Pixies -- writing songs about Samson and Delilah; having one of your biggest hits be a reference to the surrealist cinema of Bunuel; the haunting, driving melodies of "Where is My Mind?" and "Caribou"; any fan could go on and on. And it's great to see them finally able to enjoy their legacy and the great music they made. They're far enough (a decade) removed from the disappointment over their breakup and the relative lack of commercial success that always hung over their heads: "the band that SHOULD have been Nirvana." And with that distance, I think the culture has finally come around to recognize the Pixies' role in creating alternative rock. They were truly ahead of their time and I think America's just now catching up to the Pixies.
Yeah, the "goodnight Kim, Charles" bit was cute.
Olsen: steal these last two comments for your next MSNBC piece :) I give you permission. Yes, I know they're that good.
I kid, I kid ....
That is all.
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I saw the Pixies in montreal on november 27th.
Wow. Just..Wow..
It was amazing. The opening bands, The Marble Index and The Datsuns were meh to me. The pixies though..Wow.. Black only said one thing to us "Bitchin' crowd." and that was all he had to say cause it kicked so much ass. The crowd was basically the same as you described.. The only thing I didn't like was when some chick with stilleto heels was crowd surfing and nearly poked my eyes out :)