I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 23, 2017] Pixies

I saw the Pixies live at Giants Stadium in 1989.  They opened for The Cure and played a rollicking set.

I was a huge fan of their original albums and I’ve enjoyed The Breeders and Frank Black’s solo stuff to varying degrees.  I was intrigued when they reunited, but I wasn’t super psyched about it.  I didn’t really love the new songs they released–they were all fine, but I figured either I was past them or they had changed enough to make their new stuff less dramatic.

But when I saw that they were playing at the Stone Pony Summer Stage (the day after Autumn officially began), I thought I might like to go.  The face value  of the tickets was $37, which wasn’t too bad, but somehow after Ticketmaster got involved, the total was $59, which was way too much.  We were near Asbury Park during the summer and I stopped by the Stone Pony to buy a ticket at the box office.  But they were closed! (Closed Tuesdays, apparently).

It turned out that day of the show tickets went up to $52 (!).  Well, I was on the fence, and then while I was trying to find out what time the opening band went on (no official word except that gates opened at 5:30), I came across a ticket for sale on Stubhub for $20.  I’d never bought anything on Stubhub before, because I’d always heard the prices were crazy expensive.  Well, including fees, these tickets were less than face value.  Which is pretty awesome.  And I was all set.

For many people, the dealbreaker (ha) for this show was that original bassist Kim Deal as no longer in the band.  I had heard new bassist Paz Lenchantin and thought she sounded enough like Kim (especially in an outdoor venue) that it wouldn’t be all that noticeable that Kim wasn’t there.  What I didn’t realize and which I respect even if it meant that we lost out, was that they didn’t play any songs that Kim sang lead on.  Paz did all of the backing vocals and sang lead on the one song she sings on the newest album and the encore, but that was it.

It wasn’t that big of a deal, but I would so much have rather heard three or four of Kim’s songs rather than so many new ones.  In fact, I was fairly surprised by how many songs I didn’t recognize.   But hey did play THIRTY-FOUR songs after all.  And, as my brother-in-law Tim noted, nobody said a word during the whole show.  Well, Paz said thanks after the song she sang, but Frank said not a word.  They just played song after song.  Normally I enjoy some banter, but for this show, it was perfect without it.

And they played 10 of 15 songs from Doolittle.  8 of 13 from Surfer Rosa (which I guess I don’t know as well as I thought) and 4 of 8 from Come on Pilgrim.  So that’ a lot of old stuff. I happen to really like Bossanova (only one song, Ana) and Trompe Le Monde (one song, Motorway to Roswell).  That left a B-side, a song from Indie Cindy, and seven songs from the new Head Carrier.  Plus a great cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong.”

I knew that their set lists varied most nights.  So to have them start out with “Gouge Away,” and to hear Joey Santiago’s classic guitar sounding perfect right in front of me was pretty great.  While it was, of course, really cool to be just a few feet from Black Francis, it was Joey Santiago who I realized I was most excited to see.  His guitar sounded wonderful–he stood there in his suit, calm and placid, playing these classic riffs. It was spectacular.

The delightfully twisted “No 13 Baby” was also a wonderful surprise.  Then two songs from Surfer Rosa and a fun version of Wave of Mutilation. 

I deliberately did not listen to any Pixies (expect a once through of the new album) before the show so I would be delightfully surprised by what they played.  I probably should have listened to Surfer Rosa again as it has been quite a while.

They played the new song “Um Chagga Lagga” which was fun and really fast.  I was actually surprised at how short and fast their songs were.  I mean, obviously I knew the songs, but it didn’t really occur to me that they could play 34 songs in about 90 minutes.

Then back to some older songs the “Spanish” of “Isla de Encanta” which had a wonderful looseness to it (especially when Francis screamed the big scream in the middle of the song).  Then it seemed like he was going to say something to us when he shouted “Hey!” but it was just the first line to “Hey“–Been trying to meet you.

Paz had her lead vocal turn with “All I Think About Now” (which sounds an awful lot like “Here Comes Your Man.”  She did a fine job and the crowd was receptive to her.

Then it was on to “Monkey Gone to Heaven and the crowd went nuts–especially at the “million pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey,” line.

Black Francis switched to acoustic guitar for a number of songs (Joey switched as well).  And they played the full on insanity of “Vamos.”  There wasn’t a lot of time for goofing around in this set,but Joey had a little fun with his guitar effects solo in “Vamos.” It was followed by thee wonderfully obscene “Nimrod’s Son”–you are the son of a motherfucker.”.

The new “All the Saints” was followed by the lovely surf guitar of “Ana” which always sounded like the distant cousin of Bossanova’s “Velouria” to me).  Then “Motorway to Roswell,” a really deep cut from Trompe le Monde.

After a couple songs I didn’t know well, I needed a Doolittle song and was pretty freaking excited to get the insanity of “Crackity Jones.”  Then there were two older songs that the crowd went crazy for “Broken Face” and “Bone Machine” (my favorite from Rosa).

And then two classics: the rollicking “Mr Grieves” and the slow “Where is My Mind” which was nice to hear after the tease of  “All I Think.”  I liked hearing Paz doing the ooohs at the end.  I was also surprised to hear the low keening of “Caribou.”  But even more surprised to hear their fantastic cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong”–which fit perfectly with their sound.

Then came the poppy genius of “Here Comes Your Man” followed by my all time favorite obscure Pixies song “La La Love You”. I had no idea that David Lovering sang it.  It was kind of hard to see him most of the night because of the lights and fog, but I was really impressed with ow fast and hard he hit the drums-he was nonstop for a number of songs.  To hear him sing this one was a great moment.

Since the Pixies don’t care about convention, they played “Wave of Mutilation” again.  This time the UK Surf version of the song.

The band went off for a quick encore break and a young lady pushed her way up front and shouted “Debaser,” “Debaser.”  I was sure they were going to play it.  But nope, they ended with “Into the White,” a B Side that I didn’t know but which was great.  It was the one Kim songs that Paz was allowed to sing.  It was particularly fun because they filled the stage with fog until it was entirely white.

And with no fanfare, they were gone.

As I think about all the other songs I would have loved to hear, I was in no way disappointed with what they played–a great collection of classics, obscure tracks and interesting new ones.  And they were done by 9:45–we old folks need an early bedtime.

1. Gouge Away
2. No. 13 Baby
3. Brick Is Red
4. Break My Body
5. Wave of Mutilation
6. Um Chagga Lagga
7. Isla de Encanta
8. Something Against You
9. Hey
10. All I Think About Now
11. Monkey Gone to Heaven
12. Classic Masher
13. Vamos
14. Nimrod’s Son
15. All the Saints
16. Ana
17. Motorway to Roswell
18. Magdalena 318
19. Cactus
20. Bel Esprit
21. Crackity Jones
22. Broken Face
23. Bone Machine
24.  I’ve Been Tired
25. Might as Well Be Gone
26. Mr. Grieves
27. Where Is My Mind?
28. Head Carrier
29. Caribou
30. Winterlong (Neil Young cover)
31. Here Comes Your Man
32. La La Love You
33. Wave of Mutilation  (UK Surf)
34. encore
35. Into the White