Live Review: Pixies Come Home to Rock the Xfinity Center
Ok, so maybe Mansfield isn’t exactly ground zero for the embryonic efforts of this angular, abrasive and at times touchingly beautiful band, but it’s kind of between UMass and Boston so we’ll just go with it. They did too, with a surprising “U-Mass” hitting us right out of the gate. Let’s go!
Black Francis’ tortured screams still have the power of two large lungs to propel the shrieks, which came in waves (of mutilation?). “Debaser,” “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” Gouge Away” and “Caribou” — all top shelf scream moments from their discography.
Speaking of discography, they strangely went all-in for a nostalgia show, ignoring the fact that in the last decade they have released as many studio LPs, which is four, as they did during their initial reign. If you must quibble with my math, please note that I am firmly in the “Come On Pilgrim is an EP” camp.
Then again, maybe it was just a shrewd reading of the crowd. Indie Cindy was a distinctly tepid re-entry addition to their songbook, and I totally missed the two records that followed. Doggerel had a couple of moments, but I’d reckon most people were happy to shred their larynxes along to the stuff they know the best. The yet to be released “Vegas Suite”, featuring a Joey Santiago line that seemed like a direct homage to George Harrison, was the only nod to material not coated in a layer or two of amber.
It wasn’t just a rote run through though, and tonight’s selection was pretty different from last summer’s show at MGM Music Hall, with three times the total of songs played from Trompe Le Monde and Bossanova. “The Happening” and “All Over the World” were dusted off for the first time in decades and gave diehard fans a couple of lump in the throat moments they were likely not expecting, unless they don’t follow Roger Daltrey’s guidelines.
Paz Lenchantin’s departure earlier this year was a bit abrupt, but newcomer Emma Richardson had no problem fitting right in. She was spared the big shoes situation of singing “Gigantic” but handled the signature backing vocals well and took the lead vocal on “In Heaven” from the Eraserhead movie.
Santiago’s ragged and slashing style was forefront most of the night via his trusty gold top Les Paul and he also had some incredibly sweet sustain moments, especially on “Motorway to Roswell”. David Lovering is pretty unheralded when people discuss their favorite drummers, but he sticks to the song and drives it forward rather than trying to add in all sorts of needless window dressing, which would be out of place in a fairly hilarious manner.
The band ended the encore-less evening with a brash reading of Neil Young’s “Winterlong,” feedback echoing out into the pockets of Xfinity Center as the band took their well-deserved bows.
Last summer both Modest Mouse and Cat Power were touring with Pixies for 20 shows, and they must have had such a good time that they booked another 23 shows again this year. After playing the Boston area sporadically at best, Isaac Brock and his band have been making themselves pretty comfortable in the post-pandemic era, and this marked their sixth show since 2021.
On the plus side, they’ve been pretty diligent about making each show rather different, having run through the sprawling The Lonesome Crowded West in 2022 and mixing up the other shows in a convincing manner. Coming out on stage dressed like a politician at a fundraiser who forgot to swap out his hiking boots, Brock and company immediately got down to work. “Dramamine” remains one of their highlights in my mind, a lilting song with a deceptive bellyful of fire.
“Trucker’s Atlas” and “Out of Gas” are road worn tales from the recently celebrated record, and of course “Float On” got everyone’s phones in the air so they can show their friends what song they recognized.
Brock has some sort of mysterious fungi connection, as his guitar strap was festooned with mushrooms and more than one item at the merch table was similarly adorned. Perhaps he’s a budding mycologist in his spare time up in the moist, cool environs where he lives?
Chan Marshall took a small break from her celebration of Bob Dylan’s then-controversial perfomance at Royal Albert Hall by going back to her original works. Flanked by longtime keyboardist Erik Paparozzi, Marshall took the strategy of using two mics, her honeyed and comforting vocals always a joy to hear. She’s such a good interpreter of songs to not dip into songs other people wrote, but strangely cut the last few lines of “Satisfaction” where her plaintive “but I’m trying” really underscores the anxiety and desperation. That said, she ended “The Moon” by thanking everyone and telling us to keep our chins up.
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