Pixies

Pixies have chosen little known (on these shores anyway) Japanese band Tricot as their support tonight, and these girls certainly know how to warm up a crowd. Call it Math Rock, Art Rock, whatever. In their words,they shout whilst introducing one song "This is Japanese Rock!!", and Tricot do it hard. Tricot are energy fuelled, technically gifted and great fun, the lead singer rolls around on the stage and the bassist (who is almost dwarfed by her instrument ) climbs on the bass drum during a frenzied set that sets the tempo for the Pixies just nicely.

The Pixies first formed in 1986, almost 30 years ago! They split in 1993, somewhat acrimoniously, after only 4 full length albums. Practically every one of those songs could be held up as a modern classic. After their split they've been cited as a massive influence in the quiet, loud, quiet styles embraced by countless acts, Nirvana and Radiohead to name but a couple. They reformed in 2004 for what many thought would be a brief re-union tour enabling so many of us who just weren't quite old enough, or just didn't get the chance to see them the first time around.......and they're still going! In fact they've been going for longer than they did the first time around. I don't think I've seen a more powerful live band....and tonight, they're here, at Eden!

Black/Frank/Charles, whatever he's calling himself these days, leads the band, including new bassist Paz Lenchantin onto the stage and after a stuttering start ( they cock up the intro and re-start) they launch into a blistering Rock Music. Black Francis hasn't lost the most guttural scream in rock, wow, this is gonna be a good night.

Frank doesn't do idle chit chat,(the only conversation we get is him asking if they should skip or try again with Rock Music).Do we care? No. Would we rather hear him chatting about the weather and admiring the biomes for 2 minutes or spend that time barking through Crackity Jones?........Time is at a premium and every pause or gap between songs means less Pixies.They know this. We get no gaps. Each song seems to to crash violently into the next,just how it should be.

The crowd take a little while to warm up tonight or maybe they're just awestruck, but after a few songs it's clear that there's a lot of people here who've been waiting for this moment for a long time. When you go to a Pixies gig you don't just watch, you give yourself to them for the duration. The crashing power chords of Velouria strike us like bolts of lightning and the soft yet crisp intro chords from Frank's acoustic float over and engulf the crowd like a heavy mist as we join in with the "Oooooh Ooooh's" of Where Is My Mind?

It's so hard to have a favourite Pixes song, I change my mind regularly, and several times tonight. It's definitely Bone Machine when I hear Lovering's thumping intro, then it's Wave Of Mutilation as I get swept along by the sweet melody,then it's surely Levitate Me as Santiago tries to do just that as he slowly hoists up the song to Frank in his own sweet time with his elongated crunching guitar drawl.

We miss Kim Deal, she was the chatty charachter of the band and her angelic tones were part of the original pixies sound, but Paz Lenchantin fits in just fine and does a decent job on the harmonies. The new album material slots in great too. Bagboy is fantastic ( Kim should be singing those backing vocals though! ) and new favourites What Goes Boom and Indie Cindy could have been lifted straight off Trompe Le Monde.

An hour and a half disappears, it's approaching 10.30 ( Eden's Curfew we think?) and after an epic Joey Santiago feedback led Vamos, the band come together at the front of the stage, take several bows to the audience and head off.....but we want Head On ! or Break My Body, Tame, Hangwire, Planet Of Sound.......we want an Encore!! We're left hanging, I suppose all the best bands leave you wanting more, but tonight Pixies could have played every song from their back catalogue and this crowd would be waiting for round 2 !

Whoever books the acts for Eden, thank you, now how are you going to follow this one up next year......?


Setlist


Rock Music
U-Mass
River Euphrates
Something Against You
Hey
Crackity Jones
Mr. Grieves
Bagboy
Bone Machine
Caribou
Magdalena 318
Wave of Mutilation
Velouria
Cactus
What Goes Boom
Debaser
Levitate Me
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Nimrod's Son
Indie Cindy
Here Comes Your Man
La La Love You
Greens and Blues
Gouge Away
Isla de Encanta
The Sad Punk
I've Been Tired
Where Is My Mind?
Vamos