The Pixies at The National, with Fidlar

Okay, Okay, I realize The National is not in the 757, which contradicts the name of this blog, but  ... who cares?  It's THE PIXIES!  They are a band that changed the way I look at music and songwriting, and to this day I wear out their classic 5 album catalog on the regular.  Every now and then I come across someone my age or younger who has never heard the Pixies and I feel sorry for them.  I also feel sorry for those who tried to get tickets to this show and failed to do so the day they went on sale because it sold out in a matter of hours.  When I saw the show announcement I was very surprised that they were playing such a small-ish venue.  The National's capacity is only 1500 people, and The Pixies have easily sold out many arenas the size of The Hampton Coliseum or Chrysler Hall.  So I was excited to see them in a somewhat intimate environment.

I caught most of the opening set by Fidlar, and as much as I hate to do this, I don't really have a lot to say about them.  Perhaps I expected a band that was opening for The Pixies to be more eclectic or stand out in some way.  Don't get me wrong, this L.A. based rock group was tight and on point.  They had all the elements of a good punk/skate rock band with good melodies, breakdowns, etc. but they just didn't hold my attention enough for a band on a $45 ticket.  However, they did have a large number of fans in the audience who were singing along enthusiastically, so perhaps there is a more to this band than a first cold listen offered me.

When The Pixies took the stage, my attention was first drawn to checking out their new bassist, Paz Lenchantin.  For those who don't know the saga, Kim Deal quit the band in mid 2013, was quickly replaced by Kim Shattuck, who was then fired before the end of 2013 (allegedly for getting over-enthusiastic and stage diving during a performance?) and quickly replaced by Lenchantin.  So yeah, I wanted to see what she was bringing to the table, and it was mostly what I expected.  She was pretty, played the classic bass lines note for note as recorded, had a voice very similar to Deal's, and smiled a lot.  She filled the shoes well, and although it would've been nice to see Kim up there with them again, Paz'll do.  They started their set with a loud and rowdy "Bone Machine." which gave her a chance to shine on vocals and bass simultaneously.

The crowd was immediately going nuts, and all the band members had smiles on their faces.  For the duration of the show, they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.  I can't say the same for the two previous performances I've seen by The Pixes.   In past shows, it wasn't that they weren't performing well, but it just seemed like they may have tired of performing and possibly doing it for the money.  Maybe.  Or maybe since the previous venues were so large I was too far away to see the smiles.  Regardless, at The National I was not too far from the stage and was able to catch all the glances and gestures between players and their energy level stayed high for the duration of the show.  After all these years, singer Black Francis (Frank Black) is still able to roar as throaty as ever and switch to almost a whisper without any problem.  Joey Santiago is still gazing out to the crowd as he plays his simple yet perfect bendy guitar leads, and continues to rock his experimental solo during an extended "Vamos."  For a good portion of this solo he unplugged his guitar and played his 1/4" cable instead by simply touching it, complete with effects pedals.  David Lovering still holds it steady on the drum kit with fog blowing up around him at all times, and gets the trophy for the most romantic vocals on "La La Love You."  My favorite tune for the night was actually a slowed down version "Nimrod's Son" which came out beautiful and creepy!  Besides the obvious absence of Kim Deal, there couldn't be much more a Pixies fan could ask for.

The following is the set list as best as I could make out.  Unfortunately, since I haven't kept up with the band's very recent online releases (bad fan, bad fan!!) I did not know all the songs, so I apologize for the gaps.  But they did play quite a bit of new material, and it stood up well between the old classics.

Bone Machine

Wave of Mutilation

River Euphrates

???

The Sad Punk

Ana

Gouge Away

???

Cactus

Crackity Jones

Isla de Encanta

Monkey Gone to Heaven

???

Where is My Mind

Nimrod's Son

Mr. Grieves

The Holiday Song

???

Motorway to Roswell

Ed is Dead

Here Comes Your Man

La La Love You

Break My Body

I've Been Tired

???

???

Vamos

Encore 1:

Debaser

Broken Face

Head On

U-Mass

Encore 2:

Planet of Sound