| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Daisy Girl |
Posted - 12/12/2004 : 08:55:04
Here's another:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/12/11/the_rocking_return_of_the_pixies_proves_fun_for_fans_of_all_ages/
The rocking return of the Pixies proves fun for fans of all ages
By Steve Morse, Globe Staff | December 11, 2004
Reprinted from late editionsof yesterday's Globe.
It wasn't quite the Beatles, but it wasn't a bad substitute. Boston's own Pixies, the influential band that broke up 13 years ago but has returned with a roar this year, played a homecoming show at Avalon Thursday night that brought together young and old rock fans for one of the most highly anticipated concerts of the year.
"This show sold out in three minutes," said John Innamorato, who booked the event for Tea Party Concerts. "That's one of the fastest sellouts ever at Avalon." The Lansdowne Street club holds 2,000 people.
The Pixies reunion tour, which is on its final leg after playing Europe and many dates in the United States this year, has grossed a reported $14 million and played to 415,000 fans -- perhaps none more ecstatic than those at Avalon on Thursday.
"If there's anybody I'd like to see cash in, it's the Pixies," said Toirm Miller, a guitarist with the Space Shots, a Boston band.
"This is possibly the event of a lifetime," said Scott Janovitz, who is in local bands Jake Brennan & the Confidence Men and Garvy J.
"I'm glad they're still keeping on," said Peter Wolf, who has his own band after years singing with the J. Geils Band.
Ken Casey of Boston's celebrated punk band the Dropkick Murphys added: "We've been playing a lot of the same festivals in Europe that the Pixies have been on, so I've probably seen them more than anyone in Boston. But they're taking it in stride and really enjoying it."
Local musicians and industry types were everywhere, but so were just plain diehard fans who had driven long distances for the show. Brothers Stu and John Flynn came from Cape Cod with their friend John Shanley, who manages the Days Inn in Hyannis.
"We were waiting in line to get in," said Shanley, "and we heard some kid say about us, 'Hey, look at those middle-aged freaks over there.' . . . This is nostalgic, but it's hip nostalgia."
Newcomers to the Pixies also enjoyed the experience. After the band scorched through a roughly 90-minute set, Boston University student Maria DeFelice said: "I'm really impressed. They surprised me."
But most fans seemed to have deep memories. "They used to open for [Boston bands] the Zulus and the Five at Green Street Grill in Cambridge. And Joey [Santiago, the Pixies guitarist] and I were in an English class together at UMass-Boston," said Joyce Linehan, who is now director of media for the city's First Night festivities. "Then almost overnight, the Pixies became the hippest band in the universe. A lot of it happened for them in Europe first, then they got bigger over here."
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana once cited the Pixies as his band's prime inspiration; Bono of U2 (which had the Pixies open the group's 1991 tour) has said the Pixies were one of the best bands from America ever.
"I grew up with them. They didn't sell a lot of records, but they were definitely one of the most influential bands when I was a kid," said Jake Zavracky, who sings with local band Cyanide Valentine.
Red Sox pitcher Lenny DiNardo also was there. "My older brother got me into them when I was 13," he said. "I really feel sorry for all the third-generation bands who have to follow them now."
The Pixies rocked Avalon with such fan favorites as "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Here Comes Your Man."
Singer Frank Black's screams were still at brain-frying level, while Santiago dispensed the kind of edgy, nails-scraped-across-a-blackboard-style solos that were the template for a lot of modern rock to follow.
It was a potent show, even if the band flubbed a few lyrics here and there.
"I remember seeing them at WFNX's fifth anniversary show back at Axis in 1988," said Bill Abbate, a DJ with WBOS-FM. "But this was worth the wait."
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| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Daisy Girl |
Posted - 12/12/2004 : 10:56:40
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/artsCulture/view.bg?articleid=85026
Back to the future: Boston's original Pixies pop in, pack the party at Avalon Ballroom on successful reunion tour
By Michael Kunzelman / News Staff Writer
Sunday, December 12, 2004
BOSTON - An ad in the Boston Phoenix brought them together in 1986. Six years later, a fax broke them apart.
In between, the Pixies recorded and performed some of the most unorthodox and influential rock music of the past two decades.
But it took an unlikely reunion, 12 years in the making, for the band to start earning the commercial success that had never matched their critical acclaim or rabid fan base.
In April, they launched a tour of North America and Europe that reportedly has sold in excess of 400,000 tickets and grossed more than $14 million.
Boston had to wait eight months to see it for themselves, but the Pixies finally returned to their roots Thursday night for a blistering 90-minute set at the Avalon Ballroom, their first in the city since they opened for U2 in 1992.
Judging by the crowd's adoring response, the wait was well worth it.
True to their no-nonsense reputation, the band didn't waste any time with forced chatter or stage theatrics. No obligatory Boston references. Just a muted greeting, courtesy of bassist Kim Deal, followed by drummer David Lovering's intro to "Debaser," the first of 28 songs they played.
Next came the crowd-pleasing "UMass," singer/songwriter Charles Thompson's anti-ode to the school where he met guitarist Joey Santiago. Thompson, who traded in his Pixies' stage name, Black Francis, for the name Frank Black when he embarked on a solo career, proved that his trademark scream is as strong as ever on songs like "River Euphrates," "I Bleed," and "Something Against You."
He lapsed into Spanish, or something resembling it, for "Isla de Encanta" and "Vamos."
The latter number gave Santiago his turn in the spotlight, as he rested his guitar on a stand and used his pedals to make feedback wash over the crowd.
Deal -- the band's "secret weapon," as Thompson has taken to calling her in recent interviews -- may have earned the loudest rounds of applause from the audience when it was her turn to sing, first on "In Heaven," a cover of a song from David Lynch's "Eraserhead," and later on "Gigantic."
Thompson used to sing "In Heaven" at shows during the Pixies' early years. This time around, his shrieking has been replaced by Deal's unmistakably sweet vocals. The Pixies churned out five albums in relatively short order before they parted ways, but the vast majority of songs they have been playing on tour come from 1988's "Surfer Rosa" and 1999's "Doolittle."
Last night was no exception, as they tore through "Cactus," "Crackity Jones," "Hey" and "Broken Face" (which sports characteristically graphic lines like, "There was this man who snapped his brain in little pieces. And then he drove holes, and then he put 'em back in there.").
Better-known songs like "Where is My Mind?" (featured prominently at the end of the movie "Fight Club") and "Wave of Mutilation" provided ample singalong opportunities for the crowd.
The band also gave them something to laugh at, when they accidentally started playing their eventual encore, "Here Comes Your Man," a full 10 songs too early.
Thursday's show wasn't their only stop in Massachusetts. They played last Tuesday at UMass-Amherst, followed by two shows at Lowell's Tsongas Arena.
They didn't announce a stop in Boston proper until the day of their second Lowell show.
Thursday's concert, at the much smaller venue, sold out in less than 10 minutes. On eBay, tickets with a face value of $35 were fetching well over $100. The crowd at Avalon appeared older and mellower than the mosh-happy audience in Lowell, but no less appreciative and in awe of what they were seeing and hearing on stage.
Before the reunion, Deal and Thompson hadn't spoken in 12 years. Not since Thompson informed his fellow bandmates of the Pixes' demise via a tensely worded fax.
But, by all accounts, Thompson and Deal have patched things up and showed no outward signs of the acrimony that apparently contributed to band's breakup in 1993. For Pixies fans hoping they won't have to wait 12 more years for their next tour, that's very good news |
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