Monday, December 06, 2004
Getting old and watching the Pixies
Maybe $35 (plus Ticketmaster rape-charges) is too much to pay for tickets to a reunion concert in a boarded up concert shed in the country's murder capital, maybe the sound was a little muddy, and maybe Frank Black and Kim Deal looked like they had just stepped out of their Volvo on the way to Pottery Barn, but damn, if the Pixies didn't rock the house.
They played everything (OK, not Dig for Fire or Allison, but that's OK). They played a tight set. They played both versions of Wave of Mutiliation, just for good measure. One other thing. Catching the band live reinforces something that gets lost on record and with the passage of time: This is one very, very strange group. The songs stop and start and stop and then veer into the abyss. Frank Black squeals and screams and Kim breathily moans, and it often sounds like two mental patients in the middle of a knife-fight. Frightening and exhilirating.
Missed the first opening act, but be forewarned about the Datsuns. They are stone-cold awful. Very awful. Cinderella trying to channel Grand Funk Railroad awful. Load up on beer.
They played everything (OK, not Dig for Fire or Allison, but that's OK). They played a tight set. They played both versions of Wave of Mutiliation, just for good measure. One other thing. Catching the band live reinforces something that gets lost on record and with the passage of time: This is one very, very strange group. The songs stop and start and stop and then veer into the abyss. Frank Black squeals and screams and Kim breathily moans, and it often sounds like two mental patients in the middle of a knife-fight. Frightening and exhilirating.
Missed the first opening act, but be forewarned about the Datsuns. They are stone-cold awful. Very awful. Cinderella trying to channel Grand Funk Railroad awful. Load up on beer.
Permalink posted by Jonathan : 10:03 AM
