Music
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The first time I heard the Pixies I used to be 12 and crowded round a desktop laptop.
A pal performed a fan-made “Debaser” music video intercut with Luis Buñuel’s iconic surrealist brief movie “Un Chien Andalou,” referenced within the music. If you aren’t acquainted: the fast flick is most well-known for precisely the picture that Black Francis seizes on. Namely, slicing up eyeballs. At that time, the music was 20 years previous, and it scared the s— out of me.
Ten years later, in school: After performing in a Pixies cowl band, I walked from the highest of campus to the underside, listening to “Mr. Grieves,” an album lower from “Doolittle” on repeat. Probably 15 or 20 occasions in a row. I couldn’t cease.
That’s all to say: 20, 30 or 35 years on, at the least so far as this heavily-invested listener is anxious, the Pixies haven’t misplaced their efficiency. In some methods, I’ve discovered, coming to a band’s catalogue a era after the actual fact has its advantages. Divorced from the contemporaneous information cycles, Spin covers, NME pull quotes, fan expectations, minute-by-minute falls from grace, and eventual comebacks, the music should stand and impress, devoid of context. It’s useful to be aware of a band’s contemporaries – who they have been influenced by, got here up with, influenced; their bigger place within the march of recent different rock, within the Pixies case – however not far more than that. Then, you set the report on and determine for your self. Or you’ve gotten somebody determine for you after they play you a fan-made “Debaser” video.
In the years because the Pixies capped off their unimpeachable five-album run with 1991’s “Trompe Le Monde,” Black Francis and his bandmates have damaged up, reunited, fallen aside once more, gotten again collectively and launched 4 disappointing albums since 2014. This summer time, they’re embarking on a co-headlining North American Summer Tour with Modest Mouse, alt-rock icons one era faraway from Pixies, and Cat Power, indie-songwriter darling of the 90’s.
First: an uncomfortable acknowledgement. By merely signing onto this tour, all three acts are implicitly acknowledging their legacy-act standing.
Imperial stage: Over.
Expectations: Lowered, considerably.
Chance of releasing one other really revelatory album: Low. Possible! But low.
Percentage of dads within the viewers: Greatly elevated.
But I used to be no-one’s dad when the primary chords of “Gouge Away” rang out from New York City’s swanky Rooftop at Pier 17 the opposite night time (nor, for the report, am I now), and my instant takeaway was nonetheless, merely: “This rips.”
Backtracking for a second: the night time started (early! If you’re a Cat Power fan, get to the venue when the doorways open!) with a fairly, bluesy, too-short set by Chan Marshall’s Cat Power. If there was any lingering doubt that this live performance was for the fellas, the 30 minute set reserved for Cat Power (versus the headline-length units each Modest Mouse and Pixies have been allotted) bought the message throughout. Granted, the tour is billed because the Pixes and Modest Mouse…with Cat Power (in a considerably smaller font), however I may’ve achieved with a more healthy division of time between the primary two acts.
Modest Mouse went on round sundown, nonetheless packed a punch, opening their set with “Doin’ the Cockroach,” off 1997’s “The Lonesome, Crowded West.” It’s a little bit humorous to attempt to argue that Modest Mouse “played the hits,” however they did notably lean into their again catalog, peppering their setlist with solely two songs launched within the final decade, regardless of having launched two studio albums in that point. Instead, the group relied closely on cuts from their greatest report, 2004’s “Good News for People Who Love Bad News,” amongst different earlier- and mid-career releases. No complaints right here. It’s tough to beat the mild opening lick of “3rd Planet” floating over into the East River one $17 Tecate down.
An hour later, after having secured my indie-rock star-sighting of the night (The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn standing by the again), Pixies walked on to the strains of the Beatles’ oft-forgotten jokey B-Side “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” and proceeded to wheel by means of a Best-Of set, that includes as many as 9 songs from their landmark “Doolittle.” To my proper, a person no youthful than 60 in a golf polo bobs his head to “Planet of Sound,” to my left, two Hot Topic-style teenagers mosh amongst themselves to “Monkey Gone to Heaven.” My beer tab stands at over $40 (which, for these counting, means two), and the Pixies launch into “Debaser,” and it sounds simply pretty much as good because it did once I was 12, which is to say: simply pretty much as good because it did in 1989. Which isn’t any small feat.
If you’re nonetheless on the fence about shopping for tickets, contemplate this: they’ll play your favourite songs. It’s a legacy tour. And these work nice when the legacy is pretty much as good as those these three bands have left of their wake.
Pixies and Modest Mouse with Cat Power 2023 tour schedule
Want to take a look at the three-headed co-headliner extravaganza?
Here’s the place Francis, Isaac and Chan are headed earlier than the tour involves an in depth in mid-September.
| Pixies and Modes Mouse with Cat Power tour dates |
|---|
| Aug. 28 on the Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater in Lewiston, NY |
| Aug. 29 on the TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park in Indianapolis, IN |
| Aug. 30 at The Salt Shed in Chicago, IL |
| Aug. 31 at The Salt Shed in Chicago, IL |
| Sep. 2 on the Gerald Ford Amphitheater in Vail, CO |
| Sept. 3 at The Union Event Center in Salt Shed in Chicago, IL |
| Sep. 4 on the Idaho Botanical Garden in Boise, ID |
| Sep. 6 on the Spokane Pavilion in Spokane, WA |
| Sep. 7 on the KettleHouse Amphitheater in Bonner, MT |
| Sep. 8 on the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA |
| Sep. 9 on the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, BC, CA |
| Sep. 12 at McMenamins Histroric Edgefield Manor in Troutdale, OR |
| Sep. 13 at McMenamins Histroric Edgefield Manor in Troutdale, OR |
| Sep. 15 on the Oxbow RiverStage in Napa, CA |
| Sep. 16 at PETCO Park in San Diego, CA |
| Sept. 17 on the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA |
Want to see Pixies on their very own? You can discover tickets for all their solo headlining gigs right here.
Prefer simply Modest Mouse? Click right here for a whole checklist of all their 2023 concert events.
Pixies set checklist
For a better look, right here’s what the Pixies delivered to the stage on Monday, Aug. 21 courtesy of Set List FM:
01.) “Gouge Away”
02.) “Dead”
03.) “Debaser”
04.) “Cactus”
05.) “Caribou”
06.) “Something Against You”
07.) “Isla de Encanta”
08.) “Head On” (The Jesus and Mary Chain cowl)
09.) “Planet of Sound”
10.) “Who’s More Sorry Now?”
11.) “There’s a Moon On”
12.) “Death Horizon”
13.) “Mr. Grieves”
14.) “Here Comes Your Man”
15.) “Motorway to Roswell”
16.) “Monkey Gone to Heaven”
17.) “I Bleed”
18.) “Vault of Heaven”
19.) “Hey”
20.) “Ana”
21.) “Bone Machine”
22.) “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)”
23.) “Where Is My Mind?”
24.) “Nimrod’s Son”
25.) “Winterlong” (Neil Young cowl)
Modest Mouse set checklist
Only going to the present for Modest Mouse? Here’s what you’ll doubtless hear reside due to Set List FM:
01.) “Doin’ the Cockroach”
02.) “Dramamine”
03.) “We Are Between”
04.) “Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright”
05.) “Dashboard”
06.) “Ocean Breathes Salty”
07.) “Fire It Up”
08.) “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”
09.) “Back to the Middle”
10.) “King Rat”
11.) “Bukowski”
12.) “The Whale Song”
13.) “3rd Planet”
14.) “Float On”
15.) “Trailer Trash”
Cat Power set checklist
As famous above, Cat Power bought the brief finish of the stick on the tour. Here’s what we heard of Marshall’s cover-heavy set after we noticed her reside (from Set List FM).
01.) “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones cowl)
02.) “He War”
03.) “Unhate”
04.) “Cross Bones Style”
05.) “Manhattan”
06.) “Mr. Tambourine Man” (Bob Dylan cowl)
Other indie-rockers on tour in 2023
Can’t get sufficient different rock? Worried you would possibly “Fire it Up” on the Pixies/Modest Mouse/Cat Power present and never be capable of fireplace it down?
Check out 5 of our favourite indie rockers on tour this summer time, from traditional acts to newer favorites.
• Death Cab For Cutie with the Postal Service
• Weezer
• Beck with Phoenix
• Boygenius
• Interpol
Who else is bringing the hits to venues throughout North America this yr? Check out our checklist of the 52 greatest live performance excursions in 2023 right here.
