Pixies – Live in 2022

Back in the late eighties/early nineties, Boston’s Pixies were the great indie band that broke up right before great indie bands started becoming big. In 2004, they were the first should-have-been-big indie band to reunite, their legend having only grown. In 2014, they finally released a new record (after touring just about every twentieth century release in full), Indie Cindy (QRO review). But by now, even 2014 seems like forever ago (a golden age when Trump was a just joke and Corona was just a beer). The band just released their fourth new album of this millennium, Doggerel (QRO review), and their first post-COVID tour came to New York City’s Terminal 5 on Wednesday, October 5th.

A limited tour – not even hitting Boston – that might have been one of the reasons that Terminal 5 (QRO venue review) was absolutely packed. Or that the Pixies are the kind of band that you’d finally go back to show again for. Yes, it was an older crowd, but there was a wider age range than you’d expect, as the group isn’t just popular among those who missed them back when, but also those who weren’t even born to miss them back when.

While Pixies have four albums since their reunion, the set was still mostly dedicated to the golden oldies – and why not, when you’ve got golden oldies like theirs? Early on was “Wave of Mutilation” and “Something Against You”, while into the encore break was “Where Is My Mind?” (the go-to soundtrack song for a scene where the protagonist thinks they’re going crazy – the lighting for that one was appropriately multi-colored psych). Pixies returned from the encore with an opening snippet of “Head On”, their long famed Jesus & Mary Chain cover, before going into “U-Mass”, “Tame”, and ending the night with “Hey”.

There were some new songs – and some curveballs. It was a little surprising that only two pieces from Doggerel, “Vault of Heaven” and “Who’s More Sorry Now?” were played, but the record had only come out the Friday before; and there was also the even newer non-album single “Human Crime”. There was nothing from Indie Cindy, but still great Beneath the Eyrie (QRO review) “St. Nazaire” early & “Death Horizon” late. In addition to the regular “Wave of Mutilation”, there was the “(UK Surf)” version (the first introduction many mainstream eighties kids had to the band, when it was featured on the soundtrack to Christian Slater’s Pump Up the Volume in 1990), as well as rather “UK Surf” versions, i.e., slowed down, of “Planet of Sound” and “Nimrod’s Son”.

Admittedly, the show did end kind of early, but even before that the merch table had sold out of almost every t-shirt. And there was no stage banter, as guitarist Joey Santiago had told QRO that they eschewed in order to fit in more songs (QRO interview); the closest was Santiago taking off his hat to the crowd’s cheers for his extended solo on “Vamos”. But the fans got to see the songs they love – and more.