PIXIES

Sunday 14 March 2010

Venue: Hordern Pavilion

Support band: The Art

The re-united Pixies are celebrating the two decade anniversary of their classic album Doolittle with a massive tour. I attended the first of three Sydney shows at Hordern Pavilion.

When I walked in to see support band ‘The Art’ (Sydney band from Newtown) I thought Wow! All girls; it’s a Riot Grrrl band. Then shortly later realised that there was actually only one girl in the band and the other three members were just really skinny long haired make-up’d men who sounded faultlessly like women. This realisation really took the novelty away. Seeing them live was fine the main vocalist was moving around keeping the audience interested enough but when I listened to their songs at home I cringed immensely, especially at the line in track ‘I wanna know’ – “The truth is just like Christmas Santa Claus isn’t real” such a ridiculous lyric. I encourage you to make up your own mind though by visiting their myspace page.

Next up; the prestigious Pixies. Pixies Music Documentary loudQUIETloud issued by Music Video Distributors is as good a way to define the Pixies sound as any. The Pixies are one of my all time favourite bands. I missed out on the chance to see them when they played at V festival in 2007 and was devastated because I thought I would never get the chance to see them before I died.

I found out about the Pixies when I was much younger and going through an extreme Nirvana stage because The Pixies were the main influence on Kurt Cobain and Cobain’s acknowledgement of his debt to the Pixies along with other alternative bands ensured the Pixies legacy. The Pixies and the band Dinosaur Jr started virtually around the same time and were equally responsible for injecting late 80’s alternative rock music with large amounts of pure guitar noise. Dinosaur Jr also had a Sydney show recently which was reviewed by blogger Kicking Against The Pricks which I encourage you to check out.

The Pixies began the set playing four related B-side tracks. I am no expert at writing a set-list but I think it would have been more ideal to start off with a classic from the album and then slip b-side tracks in between album tracks through out. I understand the cool factor of hearing B-side tracks live especially as Kim Deal (bassist) remarked ‘Some of these b-side tracks have never been played live’ but it is not a good way to get the crowd going.

This was the first show I have been to where it was being recorded for the purpose of being able to purchase a CD copy straight after the show and I found it interesting that they could record, edit and sell such large amounts of ‘high-quality CDs’. Perhaps there was only basic editing or no editing at all.

There were a lot of people yelling (including myself) "I love you Kim" in the gaps between songs. I have never before witnessed such love for a bass player. But Kim Deal is not just any bass player. She is songwriter, lead vocals and guitar for band ‘The Breeders’ with four studio albums to their name and hit single "Cannonball".

Kim Deal is lead vocals on Pixies track ‘Into the White’ which was accompanied by a white smoke machine in the show, symbolising the transition between the end of Encore one and beginning of Encore two. Yes, there were two encores which included tracks from the album Surfer Rosa ‘Where is my mind’ and ‘Gigantic’. The Pixies full set-list from the night can be viewed here.

Everyone naturally knew all the words to every song (except the B-sides) and sang at the top of their lungs. Which shows passion but I obviously wanted to hear Frank Black’s version. I know that is what comes with every live show; if you want to hear just the band listen to the CD at home but I feel with classic bands like the Pixies the crowd participation is much more intense than usual and can really overpower the performer.

I think because my expectations were so high leading into the event I was really only setting myself up for some degree of disappointment. Don’t get me wrong. The Pixies were amazing. I love that I had the opportunity to see them. But because I was not born in my preferred generation I missed out on the chance to see them at their prime. I would have preferred to see just a straight Pixies show with a mixture of tracks from all of their albums instead of just a Doolittle based concert. But you take what you can get and all factors considered I still adore the Pixies and would see them again in a heartbeat.