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agoddard
- FB Fan -
13 Posts |
 Posted - 11/14/2004 : 00:23:39
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I'm hoarse, worn out and deliriously, deliriously happy.
Before the long drive home, I spent an hour 20 feet from the Pixies; 2 people from the rail directly in front of Frank. Ho. Ly. Shit.
The Aragon is not the best sounding venue, depending on where you stand, in my experience. But the sound tonight was perfect where I was: Loud without being painfully so, not a lot of annoying echo or anything, just the band. And what a band, they were spot fucking on minus a false start on Blown Away and a little bit of tempo slippage from Kim during the break down of Tame. There was some Frank/Kim banter regarding their picks at one point that was charming. Joey did a hilarious walk along with some of the more usual guitar tricks during Vamos.
The audience (down where I was) was nuts, though I think I was the only one dancing around during most of the songs. I definitely wasn't the only one singing along. I had to hold in tears when the audience started the high "Oooo oooo's" for Where is My Mind?
It's so few times in life where you build something up in your mind over the course of several months to the point where you worry that your expectations can never be met only to have them blown the fuck away. Wow.
In my opinion, they knocked this one out of the fucking park. Many people seemed disappointed at the lack of a "real" encore (we did get "two more"). That and the lack of River Euphrates are the only things I could even begin to complain about. But the best place to stick River Euphrates would've been after Debaser... But I wouldn't have been able to react to River Euphrates the way I'd want to. Just the first verse of Debaser (what with the bouncing around and the screaming along) left me breathless, though I managed to keep flipping out the rest of the song.
Just wow. The whole set. I wish I had the time and money to go to the other three nights at the Aragon. I've never seen a crowd react like this either. The applause during the pause before the last two songs was deafening, plenty of friendly jumping around in the proper places, some fun clapping and dancing during Vamos. There was one asshole who seemed to think it would be fun to be a one-man mosh pit during Planet of Sound. Everyone touched indirectly or directly by him glared. I thought about tripping him at one point, but luckily he stopped after a minute; not enough to ruin the performance of that song, but still a small sore spot in what was otherwise a fun crowd to be in. The cute girl next to me who was also flipping out was another plus.
I didn't expect to hear I Bleed. I didn't expect Frank to fucking scream like that during Dead. I didn't expect him to look straight down at me (the two people in front of me were both shorter than I and not really moving or anything, I on the other hand was flipping out and screaming back at him, so there's a very slim chance it's not fantasy to think he was looking right at me) during the most ludicrous screams during a killer Tame (the lights being hooked to the mics for the panting during the break down: Genius).
Setlist (from my just-fine sounding Disclive set):
In Heaven
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Where Is My Mind?
Blown Away (false start, then the whole thing)
Holiday Song
Mr. Grieves
Ed Is Dead
Planet Of Sound
Bone Machine
I Bleed
Crackity Jones
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Broken Face
Caribou
Velouria
Cactus
No. 13 Baby
Subbacultcha
U-Mass
Gouge Away
Dead
Debaser
Wave Of Mutilation (fast)
Tame
Hey
Gigantic
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They didn't really leave the stage here (or I was so crazed by this point that I missed it), but they did stop to soak in some thunderous applause and stuff before the 'encore.' This is also where the pick banter was, if I remember correctly. "Hey, Kim. What do your picks say? Mine say Kim Deal." Heh.
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Here Comes Your Man
Vamos
*Quick edit to fix some missing words. |
Edited by - agoddard on 11/14/2004 00:53:50 |
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Excuse me please
- FB Fan -
23 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2004 : 06:09:27
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| Frank wearing a sweater vest! Hadn't seen that look on him before. And doing Ed is Dead with the electric guitar instead of acoustic was a very cool. There were enough variations on a few songs to make this show a definite winner. |
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jalf0607
- FB Fan -
5 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2004 : 07:27:19
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Who was the opening band? About what time did the pixies go on?
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Edited by - jalf0607 on 11/14/2004 07:29:13 |
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Excuse me please
- FB Fan -
23 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2004 : 10:46:34
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| The opening band was the Datsuns. They stunk. Pixies went on around 9:00. |
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agoddard
- FB Fan -
13 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2004 : 11:19:18
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Now that I've slept for about nine hours (my throat's still a bit gone), I'll write a teeny bit more.
The Datsuns weren't god awful. But they were very forgettable. Not so bad to stick out in my mind, but not so good either. I kinda wish I'd be getting to see The Walkmen (Sunday's opener). Bows and Arrows is quite a nice album.
That I was bored any time they played one of their non-up-tempo songs and distracted for their last few songs by the opening band by what appeared to be David Lovering eating cake and watching the opening act is probably a sign.
I thought Frank looked ... kinda fatherly in the sweater thing; like he was about to go sit down and read a newspaper and watch the game on TV. Kim was full of smiles, as usual. I can't quite remember what Joey was wearing. David was wearing this weird sorta western shirt. They all really seemed to appreciate the unbelievable amount of noise we made at them at the end of their main set and at the end of the encore. That's the first time my ears have ever been hurt by applause. Not by screeching 14 year old girls who are also applauding but just by the roar of the crowd.
Awesome night. |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2004 : 16:58:16
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That's so cool agoddard. Wow it sounds like such an awesome show.
If any one else has reviews of the other Chicago shows that would be cool. I love reading these things.
Thank you!
http://www.campervanbeethoven.com/gearstolen/ |
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klikger
= Cult of Ray =
693 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 01:24:51
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| Tonight's (Sunday) show was really nice. I saw them back at their first show on the warmup tour at Fine Line in Minneapolis, so I knew what to expect, but this show sounded even better. The band seemed to be much more in sync, which is amazing considering how well they played at the show several months ago. There were no noticeable screwups from my viewpoint, except at the beginning of Winterlong when Frank stopped Dave from starting off the song. This time around, I thought they did a better job on Velouria which might be my favorite Pixies song, which was nice. Frank was also able to hit the high notes on No. 13 Baby ("I'm in a state..." etc.) MUCH better this time, and I think as a whole his voice has gotten better since getting back into the flow of screaming more often. The Walkmen were very entertaining and offered something different than their studio recordings. While the music was mainly the same good stuff, the lead singer proceeded to scream his way through a large part of the set which was very cool for the most part. He still showcased his nice singing voice part of the time, but the energy which he released when shrieking was an unexpected pleasure. Overall, the concert tonight was a huge success and an even better performance by the Pixies than the previous show I attended. I would get into more specifics, but I seem to have caught the flu in the last 30 minutes and am going to go throw up/die now. At least it waited till after the show. :) |
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klikger
= Cult of Ray =
693 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 01:27:00
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| Oh yeah, and sorry agoddard, but they played River Euphrates. And it was awwwesome. ;) |
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agoddard
- FB Fan -
13 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 08:47:28
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If I had the time and money, I'd have been all over all of the Chicago shows. Although I'm not sure my throat could take them all back to back like that, I'd do my best.
quote:
Oh yeah, and sorry agoddard, but they played River Euphrates. And it was awwwesome. ;)
Bah. Of course it was awesome. It's my favorite of the screamy ones, and is tailor made for bouncing around like a maniac during the chorus. Although, like I said before, I think coming hard on the heels of Debaser (the most logical place to stick it in the setlist), I would've passed out, exploded or just keeled over dead at the end of those two, never mind what Tame following that one-two would do.
Glad to hear The Walkmen are a good time. Like I said in my second post, I wish I'd gotten to see them rather than The Datsuns. Perhaps another time...
Also, having absorbed the Disclive set from Saturday: The Pixies' soundman needs to be smacked upside the head, especially if the mix continues to be as mediocre as that one. Peaking vocals and the bass being way too up are not cool.
Yay for the Pixies being so excellent performance-wise that I totally didn't notice because I was too busy losing my shit every three minutes. |
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KingOfSiam
- FB LinkMaster -
USA
460 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 09:11:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Excuse me please
Frank wearing a sweater vest! Hadn't seen that look on him before. And doing Ed is Dead with the electric guitar instead of acoustic was a very cool. There were enough variations on a few songs to make this show a definite winner.
Yeah, the Heather Grey sweater vest with blue chambray shirt is definately a good look for Frank! Very schoolboyish. |
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Jose Jones
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1758 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 10:24:36
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i went to sunday night's show, as well. absolutely wonderful.
i have seen frank and the catholics twice, both being my top 2 favorite shows ever, and this one completes the triumvirate.
it was a dream come true to finally see the pixies. none of them dissappointed, and i have the DiscLive cd for reference.
first of all, the Walkmen were fantastic. hamilton decided to scream most of the lyrics, but it really was a joy to finally see them live, too, with the pixies no less.
after seeing the saturday setlist, i'm sorry to have missed 'ed is dead', 'planet of sound', 'blown away', and 'subbacultcha.'
here's the set for sunday:
bone machine
is she weird (joy!)
u-mass
monkey gone to heaven
cactus
caribou
no. 13 baby
broken face
crackity jones
isla de encanta
something against you
hey
mr. grieves
i bleed
velouria
dead
gouge away
tame
river euphrates
debaser
wave of mutilation
wave of mutilation (UK surf)
in heaven
winterlong
nimrod's son
vamos
where is my mind?
gigantic
simply amazing.
-dan
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they were the heroes of old, men of renown. |
Edited by - Jose Jones on 11/15/2004 10:26:22 |
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Zsolt G.
- FB Fan -
117 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 12:06:48
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Yeah Sunday was very good. Anybody who's been at multiple shows know how this compares? It's sad though, because listening to the Disclive, you can really hear how well they played...which didn't translate well to the horrible acoustics of the Aragon.
Speaking of Disclive, I think it's cool, and considering it's live, the mix is quite good. Couldn't they implement a tracklist however? |
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mrgrieves1971
= Cult of Ray =
USA
544 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 12:30:39
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I was at the Saturday and Sunday shows as well. I saw the Pixies a bunch of times back in the day and I've never seend Frank have so much fun on stage. Just really seemed to be enjoying himself.
I don't really have anything to say except that it was just so awesome. So surreal to see them all on stage again.
By the way, how funny was that guy who jumped on satge at the end of Sunday's show and just started screaming into Frank's mic? Security rushed him offstage but he kept looking back and waiving at Kim. Frank and Kim actually seemed very amused by the whole thing. |
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klikger
= Cult of Ray =
693 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 13:10:58
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| Yeah, I was jealous of him. Kim remarked that they should just have him sing the song since he was so eager. Funny stuff. |
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Review of 11/13 - First night at the Aragon
