Pixies were a seminal band for me in my 20s. They hit hard and I loved them dearly. Their first three records were near masterpieces, especially 'Surfer Rosa'. But they never toured here so I never got to see them. Years later they reformed and toured here. But I had lost the impetus to see them. Unless it's Pavement I'm not really keen on reformations. Rock bands lose that edge and it often feels more like going through the motions and not feeling especially vital. But when they announced they would be returning to Australia and playing 'Come On Pilgrim' and 'Surfer Rosa' in full I was intrigued. Then it was announced it would take place at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt and my sister asked me to go it was hard to resist.

So on a beautiful summer Saturday evening the band thrilled us with 90 minues of classic Indie rock. They played the first two albums in full and it was actually pretty great. 3 of the 4 original members are still there and even though Kim Deal is no longer a Pixie, Paz Lenchantin does a fantastic job on bass and sung lead on 'Gigantic', my favourite Pixies song. And Black Francis is still a dynamic presence, even if his voice isn't quite the same. I guess that's the thing with rock bands. In their 20s and 30s there is a huge vital energy that you naturally lose as you get older. So Pixies didn't have that incredible energy but they still entertained greatly. They didn't encore but after the two albums were played they gave us some more of the 'hits'. Which was basically 'Doolittle' with classics like 'Debaser', 'Gouge Away' and 'Here Comes Your Man' being great hits with a very enthusiastic crowd. So a trip down memory lane was a lot of fun and definitely worth the night out.   

Set List
Come On Pilgrim

Caribou
Isla de Encanta
Ed is Dead
The Holiday Song
Nimrod's Son
I've Been Tired
Levitate Me

Surfer Rosa

Bone Machine
Break My Body
Something Against You
Broken Face
Gigantic
River Euphrates
Where Is My Mind?
Cactus
Tony's Theme
Oh My Golly!
Vamos
I'm Amazed
Brick Is Red

Vamos

Gouge Away

Debaser
Head On (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Planet of Sound
Wave of Mutilation
Here Comes Your Man
Winterlong (Neil Young cover)