Pixies
6th March 2020
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.
They were a band ahead of their time; a distinctive raw and visceral sound that could only and can only be attributed to them seeping from their first EP and debut album. It infiltrated the minds of those that heard it and influenced a whole new generation that would later rear their collective head in the form of the nineties grunge explosion, many a now famous name trying to replicate and emulate what they had first brought to the table; the originators themselves choosing to step back into the shadows from which it seemed they first had sprung, not to be seen again until just over a decade later…
That band was the Pixies.
Last night, within the walls of Spark Arena, the quartet who graced the stage almost two years ago to the day with a set so polar opposite to what would be witnessed last night in visual capacity, took their Auckland audience on a trip down memory lane. But this was no jaunt in nostalgia park, songs looked back on with kind smiles and the soft touch of a hand. This was time machine travel, a ride in the Tardis back to the studio where these recordings were first made.
Stage decked out with seven screens, a central back flanked in triplicate on either side, the bands equipment was stacked neatly in the centre, the drums and home for the evening of David Lovering perched upon a riser overlooking all. Patrons soon began to play Tetris, manoeuvring themselves into allocated seat numbers while those down on the floor slotted into viable vantage points. All the while an avant-garde short film played on stage, illustrating the works and life of Vaughn Oliver, a British graphic designer from Surrey who was responsible for producing the artwork for the entire Pixies discography during his lifetime, including the Minotaur box set. Sadly, Oliver passed away last December, The Pixies paying tribute in a subtle, and heartfelt way with their dedication to a man whose roots obviously ran deep with the band.
“What would go on our shelves if not for books and vinyl? Shelf-makers would go redundant; it’s memories, it’s pages from your diary and blah-de-blah…” [Vaughn Oliver 1957-2019]
When the Pixies arrived, it was to great fanfare, the line-up having remained unchanged since inception, except of course for the role of bass guitar which over the decades has been held by three outstanding female artists of their time, most recently and of course currently Paz Lenchantin. Dressed predominantly in black, Lovering’s blue t-shirt beaming like a crack in the sky on a stormy day, the Pixies walked out to an orchestral version of their iconic number ‘Where is my Mind?’ the calm it seemed before Black Francis would unleash upon all his frenzied repertoire that made up much of what these initial first recordings were.
The set list therefore would hold no surprises, the band working through Come on Pilgrim before shifting into their debut album Surfer Rosa; while it has been said many times before it once again needs to be reiterated, Doolittle is an outstanding album, but there is a magic to Surfer Rosa that was so unique it transcended all else. The opportunity to hear it live, Francis gifting to it the same intensity that pours forth from the album itself, something to behold; ‘Caribou’ easing the room in before the divine madness of songs such as ‘Vamos’ and ‘Isla de Enchanta’ coloured the air.
Behind them the screens would project images along with the occasional song title or large version of the band’s name, this contrast between the relative plainness of the band’s look a visual representation of their sound that often employed the loudQUIETloud effect that they are synonymous with. Despite them playing music that almost all of the attendees will have permanently etched within their skulls, the heaviness of some of the subject topics such as sexual abuse and piety offset by the quirkiness of the creators themselves and their unique relationship with each other, the tracks were nuanced, allowing them to breathe in this space where they would live for just one night.
Straight into Surfer Rosa, with barely a word spoken, the Pixies began to really put their foot down, Francis – who had already impressed with how he could still scream in anguish, a sound that made the skin instantaneously prickle – stepping back to allow Lenchantin to take the lead on ‘Gigantic’, a song that undoubtedly threw them into the mainstream limelight as did the ever popular ‘Where is my Mind?’. ‘Cactus’ and ‘Tony’s Theme’ saw that humour and stage banter begin to wind itself through before Francis announced that they would be playing ‘Vamos’ a second time, because their record company had asked them to. Oh, how firmly that tongue was wedged! The track spinning across the stage, Joey Santiago conducted the notes with his fingers, lassoing them across the heads of those in the front row before pulling it back and using both hat and drumstick to coax yet more from the instrument clasped in his hands. Glorious.
It’s these little touches that make their live shows so unmissable; Lenchantin’s serpentine feet that every so often would quietly moonwalk on the spot, through to Francis’s monologue that centred around the phrase ‘fucking die’ that had the continuously pogoing fans down front in stitches. The debated encore that saw Lovering feign sore hands, and the audience roar their approval of the idea of the band giving them more.
The encore was largesse in itself, from ‘Debaser’ to their cover of Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘Head On’; ‘Tame’ and ‘Hey’ from the 1989 album Doolittle arousing in their own distinct and scintillating ways. ‘Gouge Away’ a track that incorporates a beat that slowly buries itself, droning guitars and gated reverb a nightcap to see one and all out.
Still vital. Still visceral. Long live the Pixies.
Were you there at Spark Arena for this flashback alternative gig? Or have you seen the Pixies perform live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Caribou
- Vamos
- Isla De Encanta
- Ed Is Dead
- The Holiday Song
- Nimrod’s Son
- I’ve Been Tired
- Levitate Me
- 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
- Debaser [encore]
- Wave Of Mutilation [encore]
- Head On [Jesus And Mary Chain cover] [encore]
- Tame [encore]
- Hey [encore]
- Gouge Away [encore]
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