Live Review

The Pixies @ Riverstage

 Lyrics on bathroom walls, click wheels on iPods and unkempt side fringes occupied the former lives of most fans at Thursday night’s Pixies concert. Returning again to Australia since their last trip for Vivid Festival, the iconic Bostonian band never fail to knock the pants off old and young fans alike.

It's nice to see a band that refuses to be relevant. There’s no compromise on sound for the changing times; the dynamics they pioneered in the early nineties remain the same today, in a sea of lit up phone screens. And with the less than desirable acoustics of Riverstage, you really gotta’ be loud if you want to get it out there at all.

Despite being an official tour for Headcarrrier, the 2 hour set went all up and down the catalogue. From Indie Cindy to Bossanova, Doolittle to Trompe Le Monde, back to Headcarrier and then revisiting some of the first tracks to make the scene on their LP Come On Pilgrim. Baal’s Back, Snakes and Indie Cindy all made a splash, but the Pixies were smart enough to know their history was the most precious.

Talk of diplomacy and respect to Kim Deal’s work was a topic of interest. But if you still weren’t sure of their feelings about Pixies history, confirmation screamed out at you when they finished off the night with Into The White, Paz Lenchantin supplying the hypnotic chants.

But the three boys, like boy scouts grown into men, made sure to make the most of the moments in the sun. Joey Santiago riffing out during Money Gone To Heaven was nothing short of exceptional, just as Daniel Lovering fails to go unnoticed in the back. You could put the man in a lead tank behind a curtain guarded by panthers and he’d still find a way to get noticed. Shrugging off the accidental repeat of Havalina they launched into Tame to avert attention, and the crowd went wild.

 Last time Pixies made it to 4 studio albums they disintegrated in a ball of fire. Since the 2014 reunion Pixies are now at 2 in a row. Can they make it to 4 and keep it going? Only time will tell.

-Meredith McLean

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