After 3 long years, the Pixies has returned to Melbourne to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 1989 album "Doolittle" which included some of the bands best commercial hits including "Wave of Mutilation", "Here Comes Your Man", "Debaser" and "Hey". The Doolittle tour has lasted for 4 days with 3 of them being sold out and i was lucky enough to get my hands on one of the tickets for the final Melbourne show.
Radical fans gathered in Festival Hall, Melbourne last night waiting enthusiastically while Rain Machine, the side project of TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone, opened the show with a 30-minute set. Rain Machine was far better than any opening bands that I've been watching so far. Apart from the smokin' hot female bassist, I thought the band kicked the night off pretty well and the pressure to open for such a big band definitely wasn't an issue for them.
After the long wait, crowds started screaming the moment Pixies made their way up the stage without a word. Bassist, Kim Deal announced "B-sides" before they started the whole journey with “Dancing the Manta Ray". After 3 other B-sides, “Manta Ray,” “Weird At My School” and “Bailey’s Walk”, the backdrop visuals flashed "Doolittle", which marked the embarkation of the whole Doolittle tour. The Pixies broke into the crowd with the first track off the Doolittle album, "Debaser" which cast most off the fans dancing and singing along to the familiar song.
Frank Black definitely proved his ability to pack a houseful of force and volume in his voice with Deal's voice mingling at the back while she fired up the bass lines. It was quite interesting to see how the visual backdrops showed old grainy films that inspired the lyrics of the songs. The videos features odd imagery, nuns, blood red visualizations and lyrics that synced very well especially during the song "Hey" accompanied by black and white chains attaching.
The first encore was a surf version of Wave of Mutilation, a soft slowed down acoustic performance by the band followed up by the song Into the White. Towards the second half of the song, heavy dosage of fogs were released covering up the stage with Deal's voice echoing in the background while the band slowly faded which left the crowd wanting more.
Thinking that it was the end of the show, the houselights went on and the crowd went bonkers when the band showed up for a second encore. “These songs aren’t on the record,” said Deal before they brought the life back into the crowd by playing Caribou, Where Is My Mind, and Gigantic. It's really amazing how they consistently played all the classic favorites throughout the show, the gig felt more like "The Best of Pixies" show after all. Guitarist Santiago stole the limelight doing a brief solo when he played his ax with a bow and doing some spazzed-out effects using a drumstick he borrowed from drummer, David Lovering.
Here's the setlist for the night:
1. Dancing The Manta Ray
2. Weird At My School
3. Bailey's Walk
4. Manta Ray
5. Debaser
6. Tame
7. Wave of Mutilation
8. I Bleed
9. Here Comes Your Man
10. Dead
11. Monkey Gone To Heaven
12. Mr. Grieves
13. Crackity Jones
14. La La Love You
15. No. 13 Baby
16. There Goes My Gun
17. Hey
18. Silver
19. Gouge Away
Encore:
20. Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
21. Into The White
- words by Brian Foong
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