Gig gloat episode 1:
As far as music scenes go Melbourne has got it going on, I can’t complain. Well I kind of still do, gigs aren’t cheap and I just love to complain generally. But when V festival came to Australia in 2007 (for the first time I think) I got excited-pee in your pants type excited. Pixies were headlining and all my dreams had come true. Not so. V fest was on in Sydney and ….Brisbane? No Melbourne. Yep that’s right Brisbane over Melbourne. Brisbane’s music scene includes the likes of Powderfinger and the clubs that play MOS annual on loop. I was angry. Fast forward 2 years and i was still harbouring a bit of resentment.
Then I move to Holland. And then I saw the Pixies. And live music will never sound the same again. I can see you roll your eyes in disbelief. To quote my friend Amelia* who has also seen the Pixies live and who I consider to be a) very good at life generally and b) a ruthless music critic who doesn’t indulge in hyperbole, “Wow, I don’t think I will see anything that good again. Life feels both better and worse.”
##Audience warning: I’m about to wax lyrical in detail , if you don’t like the Pixies or think hearing about gigs is like second hand smoke then save yourself now and wait for my next post.##
The gig was at Brixton academy in London. It is like a mix between the Forum for lay out and the Palais for size. Thanks to my years of internet shopping addiction and cunning ebay skillz I managed to score a really good ticket down in the stalls. I was surrounded by guys in their late 20s or 30s wearing the same get up they wore as teenagers yet this time round they had bald patches and beer bellies. It was as if for night all these people reverted back to their awkward alt rock loving teen selves. Made for a great vibe.
The tour was a Doolittle tour which is I think arguable their best album (ok maybe along with Surfa Rosa). I may or may not have gotten teary when they played “hey” and “monkey gone to heaven” which are two of my favourite songs. They played a fair few B-sides, which the ever so cool Kim told us had only ever played in public a handful of times before. B-sides came early in the set and then when the opening riff started up for Wave of Mutilation the crowd lost their shit. Kim played MC and got the right balance of a bit of chat but not so much that you think “shut up and play some music” (Daniel Johns BDO 2008 anyone? What a dick)
Yes they may be old, and Black Francis is a bit of a fatty, (Kim btw still looks pretty rock and roll), but holy shit they know how to put on a show. The drum lines were so so tight, the bass was so sexy, lazy but always perfectly timed, lead guitar was beyond perfect, Black, man, he sounded, whoa, am-az-ing. They had this all encompassing sound but were never too loud. There is nothing better being at a gig where everyone around you knows the words to every song and loose the shit at the very beginning and don’t go to find it until they’re in line for the cloak room.
They opened the encore with a half tempo wave of mutilation just Black Francis on vocals and the drum line. Sick. Hey when you are the Pixies you can play a song twice. Or three times which is what they did. Two encores later and true to the track list they ended on gouge away. I would have really liked to have heard “Where is my mind?” but then it wouldn’t be a Doolittle tour and more of a best of tour. They just don’t make bands like the Pixies on this side of the 90s. I had a similar thought when I was sitting in the Belgian sun watch Dinosaur Jr-such veterans, such a great sound. (ok now I am just gloating).
Tonight I’m going to see Massive Attack. Watch out for the next episode of gig gloat.
Peace out
*Coincidentally Amelia has a blog you should definitely check out, it is the Mozart of blogs-you read it and your IQ increases for 15 minutes:
