Pixies
Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL
November 19, 2009

It was one of those rare moments when both the boys and girls were having fun – the sold-out crowd rose to their feet and joined hands – as a chorus of voices chanted, “Bam Thwok…Bam Thwok,” (the title of their 2004 single). Or maybe I was the only one. “Bam Thwok” or no “Bam Thwok,” the set was about as outstanding as you’d expect, especially considering Doolittle was played in its entirety. Probably best “Bam Thwok” didn’t replace any of their other set selections. “Bam Thwok”….the last time I’ll say it. Bam. I would’ve liked to have heard “U-Mass,” “Ed Is Dead,” definitely “Cactus” and “Is She Weird?” and perhaps a cover mixed in. All the songs are hits in my book; it would’ve been a five-hour show to get to them all.

Rarely have I ever been to a show and saw the band as anything more than people I really respect; the Pixies were celebrities. The four came out all dressed in black, acknowledged the huge applause, paused in front of the mic without saying anything and launched into “Dancing The Manta Ray.” A visual backdrop accompanied the performance from five minutes before the Pixies took stage throughout varying from the lyrics of “Gauge Away,” the awesome doll-teeth/baby-spinning on “Crackity Jones,” to the huge face displays of the band themselves.

Trompe Le Monde and Bossonova, the less-Kim-Deal-involved albums were represented only with the awesome “Planet Of Sound,” and “Dig For Fire.” “Planet of Sound” earned stars on the paper plate that I wrote my notes on, along with “Wave of Mutilation,” “Gauge Away,” and the natural crowd-pleaser “Where Is My Mind?” Kim joked about all the b-sides that they had to go back and learn, and aside from Doolittle, the four b-sides outnumbered the amount of songs they played from any specific album.
I figured the crowd would be comprised of mostly kids like me, 21 year-olds, second-generation Pixies fans that learned about the Pixies from their older brother. Surprisingly, there seemed to be over half that were older, and many of whom had seen the Pixies in the early ’90s. The hilarious crowd-member Chris R “CJR” (pictured below the set list) advised audience members attending one of the next two shows at the Aragon, “This show was a lot better than when they first reunited, and I also recommend and appreciate women to dance.” I do feel very fortunate to have gotten to see the first of the three-night stand.

One thing that was awesome about the Devendra Banhart show was that his backing back of various bands all got a shot at playing their own solo/side-projects. I would’ve loved an Amps, Breeders, Frank Black, Grand Duchy, etc song. Pixies are in my top 10 favorite bands, and Doolittle is definitely a top 5 album of mine. The show certainly rocked. The still-relevant and ever-influential/amazing Pixies ended with a touching bow.

Here’s the Sweet Set:
1) Dancing the Manta Ray
2) Weird at my School
3) Bailey’s Walk
4) Manta Ray
5) Debaser
6) Tame
7) Wave of Mutilation
8 I Bleed
9) Here Comes Your Man
10) Dead
11) Monkey Gone to Heaven
12) Mr. Grieves
13) Crackity Jones
14) La La Love You
15) No. 13 Baby
16) There Goes My Gun
17) Hey
18) Silver
19) Gouge Away
First encore
20) Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
21) Into the White
Second encore
22) Dig for Fire
23) Planet of Sound
24) Where is My Mind?
25) Gigantic

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