It’s been half a decade since The Pixie’s triumphant reunion performance at Coachella. During that time, the band has revitalized the reunion industry for Alternative Nation alumni acts, played every major festival on earth, done a couple of theater tours, and refused to put out any new music (although Frank Black did release his best post-Pixies work to date as Grand Duchy.) In the meantime, another new touring gimmick—the complete album tour—has become commonplace amongst the artists whom The Pixies call peers. Be it Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation or GZA doing Liquid Swords, this obvious response to today’s singles driven consumer culture has been attracting fans both old and young. So it was hardly a surprise when The Pixies announced they’d be hitting the road again, this time to perform their classic 1989 album Doolittle. How many people would come to hear one of the best 38:38 seconds of alternative rock? It turns out enough to sell out three nights in Hollywood.
Of course, even as they rapidly approach middle-age nostalgia status, Frank, Kim, Joey and David are still rubbing against the grain (that in itself is a peculiarly nostalgic element of their era). The band started the night by playing all of the b-sides off of Doolittle. Surprisingly, the crowd stayed with the group through these largely unknown numbers, with the enthusiasm growing until Kim Deal finally kick-started the bass line to Doolittle’s opening bombardment, “Debaser.” From there, the band careened through side one, with Kim Deal occasionally pointing out the mile markers (”half way through side one. y’all“) missed by those whole only ever owned the album on CD.
With “Wave of Mutilation,” “I Bleed,” Hear Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” all coming in rapid succession, this album performance began to feel like a greatest hits. Sadly, side two of Doolittle didn’t fare as well, with fun fodder like “Crackity Jones” losing much of it’s playfulness when book-ended by guitar tuning. Still, the crowd appreciated the Lovering-lead “La La Love You” and chanting along to “Hey.”
With still some time to kill following Doolittle’s brief running time, the band took a breather before returning for some extended encores, including a rare slowed down rendition of “Wave of Mutilation” most famously found on the Pump Up the Volume Soundtrack. The group ended with a few more faves, such as “Vamos” and “Caribou.” Some in the audience were left missing a few of their favorite songs (this reviewer was appalled when he realized that “Gigantic” is in fact on Surfa Rosa), leaving one to wonder if there’s a real advantage to complete album performances. Surely there must be a more comfortable medium between playing all the obvious hits and such a single-minded set list.
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