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I liked the outdated 70s feel Cardiff Motorpoint Arena the only other time I went there (for Leonard Cohen) but this time the seat was poor and the sound was poor, so not so much.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.