After the initial horror of realising my birthday gift of Pixies tickets were bought in the seated section ... and then being placed behind the barred off penitentiary area of Festival Hall under the under the hawk eye of the security patrolling the barricade (possibly because many others were doing what I was - dreaming up escape routes into GA)... I decided that despite all my rage I was still just a rat in a cage, and so I jumped on my wheel determined to have a good time. Soon enough the renditions delivered from the underrated pioneers of post-punk grunge began, acting as a creamy Savlon soothing the wound.
By the close of the set they had proved their worth of five sold out Melbourne shows by taking us on a journey through their versatile musical history; we heard everything from the ultra poppy 'Here Comes Your Man' to the harder sounds of 'U-Mass' and 'Planet of Sound.' It was too bad Francis and Santiago didn't seem as thrilled as the crowd; maintaining non-plussed expressions for the the duration of the gig. Deal made up for the rest though, taking the role of entertainer and beaming at the adoring thirty somethings completely transported to their college rocking, boxer wearing hey days.
Rad. To the power of awesome.
They built up slowly, opening the set with 'Weird at My School' and 'Dancing with a Manta Ray.' This material from their later, somewhat lackluster, albums didn't do much by way of mobilising the shoe gazing masses (or maybe I was still stewing...). The gig really began to dig for a fire when Francis Black's signature howl took shape in 'Debaser,' beautifully contrasted by Kim Deal's sweet folky echoes.
With their bizarre lyrics taking inspiration from all variety of taboo subjects - from incestuous relations (Holiday Song, Nimrod Son) to apocalyptic folklore and mutilation - the concerts appearance mimicked this content. Being of the art school drop out, post punk set ... the Pixies, similar to peers the Talking Heads, Devo and the like, have utilised their past technical training in their musical creations. This was notable in the running surrealist film projected as the backdrop to the gig in an ode to Debaser's reference to 'Un Chien Andalou'. The appreciation of the audience was felt, and most definitely heard (if the dude standing behind me and his grating screams straight into my ear canal were any indication...) at its peak during 'Gouge Away,' which fought to compete with the din of Dr. Martens stomping for more.
The ear drum assailant
By the close of the set they had proved their worth of five sold out Melbourne shows by taking us on a journey through their versatile musical history; we heard everything from the ultra poppy 'Here Comes Your Man' to the harder sounds of 'U-Mass' and 'Planet of Sound.' It was too bad Francis and Santiago didn't seem as thrilled as the crowd; maintaining non-plussed expressions for the the duration of the gig. Deal made up for the rest though, taking the role of entertainer and beaming at the adoring thirty somethings completely transported to their college rocking, boxer wearing hey days.
Rad. To the power of awesome.If you want to catch the Pixies live, look into tickets to the Splendour in the Grass festival, where they will one of the headline acts amongst an absolutely stellar line-up of bands.
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