Chuck, Rajan and I went to see the Pixies show at the Milwaukee Theatre last night. I think Chuck summed it up pretty well after the show: workmanlike. The Pixies came to town to kick your ass. Mission accomplished.
I lost track of the song count, but they dug deeper into the catalog than I had hoped/expected. I’d guestimate that they played 2 songs from “Come On Pilgrim“, 4 from “Surfer Rosa“, probably another 10 from “Doolittle“, and one from “Bossanova” - leaving us with nothing from “Trompe Le Monde“. So, I was a little disapointed not to hear something like “Motorway to Roswell” or “Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons”. They also didn’t get around to playing “La La Love You”. Those are my only complaints.
To put this show into perspective, the Pixies (”Doolittle”, specifically) changed my life. I first heard that album in the summer of 1988. Some of my soccer buddies were talking it up, and suggested that I give it a listen. Up until then, I had been more of an early-hip-hop/R&B/pop kind of guy. The Pixies blew my mind. My good friend Jim once called Nirvana’s “Unplugged” album “our generation’s Abbey Road”; if that’s the case, then “Doolittle” was my “Sgt. Pepper”.
Last night’s show was tight. Chuck mentioned that they had just finished a 3-week hiatus of the tour, and this was the first show of the second leg. There was speculation when the tour was announced that they might not make it this far - the breakup of the band was pretty vicious, from what I’ve heard. There was no hint of any of that on stage - they were just tight, and sounded like they’ve been playing/practicing for quite some time. There were, I think, 4 “pauses” during the show. Otherwise, they moved right from one song into the next. And, aside from Kim Deal’s “Thank you very much” late into the set, there was Zero interaction with the audience.
“Debaser” was the opening number. Just before they began, I had thought to myself, “I bet they start with ‘Debaser’…”.
There was no true encore - the band broke after 90 minutes of so, but stayed on stage, while Joey Santiago instructed the crowd to cheer. After about a 2 minute break, they finished up with the UK Surf Mix version of “Wave of Mutilation”, and then closed with “Where is My Mind”. [thanks to Chuck and his photographic memory for supplying me with the correct song titles]
Not a true set list, but here’s what I do remember them playing:
Comments
3 Comments
They also played Crackity Jones.
Great show.
Posted November 10, 2004 at 3:33 pm by chuck .
enjoyed reading the comments regarding the milwaukee show…having a hard time finding much on the web though and was dissapointed they did not do the disc live thing here…
anyone know where to find photos, reviews, recordings, etc.. of the milwaukee pixies show???
saw the onmilwaukee.com review and the poorly written milwaukee journal review…
Posted November 12, 2004 at 1:13 am by geo .
here are all the songs they played, (not in order)
Debaser
Something Against You
Bone Machine
Broken Face
Velouria
Planet of Sound
UMass
Subbacultcha
In Heaven
Wave of Mutalation
Here Comes Your Man
Ed is Dead
Tame
I Bleed
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Hey
Gouge Away
Isla de Encanta
No. 13 Baby
Caribou
Gigantic
Crackity Jones
Cactus
Holiday Song
Dead
Mr. Grieves
Nimrod’s Son
Vamos
-encore-
Wave of Mutalation (Reprise)
Where is My Mind?
Posted November 21, 2004 at 6:45 pm by Ryan .