The Pixies 30/8/2005

I wasn't aware of The Pixies in their heyday but their reformation gave me the first opportunity to see them live having become pretty addicted to 'Doolittle' in the meantime. I just managed to get hold of a ticket fairly well back in the balcony of the Apollo, Manchester and sat back not really knowing what to expect from a reformed Pixies live. It was startlingly and viscerally great. The band is so tight, the guitars are so precise, the vocals from Black Francis and indeed Kim Deal are so distinctive and full of power and then of course the songs are classic howls of anger and emotion. The sound is very dense but you can dive right into it. I was not used to hearing such short tracks live* but they stop one and immediately start another so it doesn't matter. The classic tracks from 'Doolittle' were there - 'Wave of Mutilation' very early on and just immensely powerful; 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' with its astonishing vocals shouted out but perfectly in tune; the extraordinary 'Debaser' and the tuneful 'Here Comes Your Man'. 'Winterlong' was a surprise and a joy - I wasn't expecting a Neil Young cover and 'Where is My Mind' near the end followed by the amazing 'Gigantic' with Kim Deal's vocals front and centre. Brilliant - just brilliant. * except for Creedence Clearwater Revival in The Albert Hall in 1970!

The Pixies - 7/12/2016

I liked the outdated 70s feel Cardiff Motorpoint Arena the only other time I went there (for Leonard Cohen) but this time the seat was poor and the sound was poor, so not so much. The support, The Fews were generally disappointing, mainly just fast and furious and with the bass and drums too dominant in the mix. I liked just a couple of tracks, a slower one half way through their set which had some nuance to it and the final number which ended up fast and furious but at least built its way there. The Pixies kicked off straight away with a couple of favourites, 'Bone Machine' and 'This Monkey's Gone to Heaven'. The sound mix was better but not ideal and this weren't startlingly good versions of either great song. 'Caribou' also came reasonably early in the set but I really started connecting a couple of tracks later with ' Wave of Mutilation' which is just a brilliantly strong number. 'Might as Well be Gone' from the new album was also strong and a little later 'Magdalena 318' followed by 'Cactus' and the gig was starting to build. As usual the Pixies played lots and lots of short tracks with almost no time in between and soon we arrived at the impeccable ' Where is My Mind' which was followed by 'Winterlong'. I don't think I have ever heard Neil Young sing this live but the Pixies always seem to do it as their only cover and this is possibly my favourite NY cover. We still had time for the classic 'Debaser' and a surprising encore of the excellent 'Into the White' featuring more dry ice smoke than I have ever seen at a gig which obscured the band for most of the track. Black Francis was as shoutily great as ever on the vocals, the 'new' bassist Paz Lenchantin was good on bass as well as vocals and Joey Santiago played an eclectic and very effective lead guitar which sometimes channeled a very musical buzz saw. Somehow though this wasn't the Pixies at their impeccable best (as I witnessed in 2009 and 2005) but even that is a great gig and if they come round again I'll probably be back.