|
Freeborn Hall – UC Davis May 1, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas For many, many years I’ve always wished for three reunions – The Clash, The Misfits, and The Pixies. Well, The Clash will never happen now, with Joe Strummer’s passing; everyone knows that there’s no way in hell Danzig will re-join The Misfits unless he gets very hard up for money; and I always thought that the egos involved in The Pixies would forever prevent them from reforming as well. The sad part about never having seen the Pixies, though, is that they were actually still together when I was first becoming a huge fan, but they never played anywhere near the podunk town I grew up in; and I was but a young teen with no available transportation to drive to the far ends of the country to view them in a live setting. Well, times have changed apparently, egos have lessened, and money was wanted, so the Pixies reformed much to the delight of their ravenous fans. Unlike most bands, the Pixies fan base seemed to grow stronger and stronger with each passing year that they weren’t around; this was made especially evident to me at this show, as the entire crowd seemed to either be old fogeys like me or young teenagers who I can only assume discovered the Pixies when their favorite bands name dropped them as influences. Either way, the tickets for this show (and the entire tour really) sold out in a matter of minutes, and had folks paying at $150 and more per ticket for the opportunity to see the pixies play in these smaller venues in off-beat locations for the first time in many years. But enough of all that, this is supposed to be a review of the show. Well, it was fan-fuckin’-tastic. Seriously, everything I’d always hoped a show by them would be. They played 24 songs including the encore, and the show clocked in at around 70 minutes total. No prattling with the audience, listening to every Tom, Dick and Mary yell out song requests, no stories and jokes, just very straight forward. They were like a well oiled machine that had never broken up, save one minor flub on the beginning of “Wave of Mutilation”. The material mostly focused on older material, so I was a little disappointed not to hear “Alec Eiffel”, but they played “Hey”, “Debaser”, and “Velouria”, so how could you even think of complaining? The crowd was ecstatic – lots of freaking out like it was the Beatles up there, tons of dancing, even moshing (lots of girls moshing around me in particular, and of course the requisite lunkhead dudes), and the applause and cheering between songs was like a jet engine roaring. Best of all, this entire tour was being bootlegged by that instant live company, wherein they record the show and instantly burn CDs for purchase 10 minutes after the band finishes. After such an amazing show, how could you not get one? I believe they made 1000 and sold out of them easily. The quality is terrific, and will always serve as a reminder of finally seeing one of the greatest bands of all time live. ©2004 playinginfog.com |