The Pixies Hit Boston

Black Francis of the Pixies rocked the Wang Theater on November 27th (photo by Thomas Lewis)

Those who attended the Wang Theater on Friday and Saturday night were given a rare treat: the most influential band that Boston has produced rocked the house. This Pixies tour was to honor the 20th anniversary of the release of their critically acclaimed album "Doolittle". Just this month, the Pixies released a comprehensive collection of all of their studio albums called "Minotaur". "Minotaur" includes all five albums on all the following formats: 24-karat gold CDs, Blu-ray DVDs, DVDs mastered for 5.1 surround sound, a book of the artwork that went into the creation of the covers and liner notes, and a previously unreleased Pixies 1991 live performance from Brixton. A must-have for any Pixies fan the collection is available in both Limited and Deluxe editions, it's certainly on our Christmas wish-list.

But the focus this weekend was on "Doolittle" but the band threw us a curveball by starting out their set on Friday with the B-sides "Dancing The Manta Ray" and "Weird At My School" before playing the songs of "Doolittle" in order from beginning to the end of the album. Instrumentally the band started out incredibly strong but it wasn't until we heard the clear and beautiful voice of Kim Deal on "Debaser" that we could see crowd really get into it.

Lead singer Charles Thompson aka Black Francis aka Frank Black remained largely enigmatic yet thoroughly engaged musically, guitarist Joey Santiago was as good as we've ever heard him and drummer David Lovering was incredibly tight making us hope that this band stays together well beyond this tour. Not only was Kim Deal rocking the bass, she also served as tour guide for the evening, commenting on where in the album we were and what kind of energy was going through the band and what kind of rehearsal was needed to bring selected B-sides to the live show. After performing "La La Love You", sang primarily by David Lovering, Deal remarked "that was fuckin' beautiful" which it was.

During the "Doolittle" songs the screen behind the band played videos and animations thematically synchronized with each song. "Debaser", for example, was accompanied by the surrealist film "Ghosts before Breakfast" by Hans Richter, a contemporary of the song's subject, Luis Bunuel. "La La Love You" (see video below) had animation of various interpretations of hearts and "Silver" was paired with a film of eerie desert landscapes, echoing the mournful song.

After "Doolittle" the band came out for three encores with songs like "Wave of Mutilation", "Into The White", "Caribou" (see video below), "Manta Ray", "Bailey’s Walk", ""Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)", "Vamos" (see video below), and "Where Is My Mind".

According to friends, Saturday's encore sets were comprised of "Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)", "Into The White", "Isla De Encanta", "Vamos", "Holiday Song", "Nimrod's Son, and "U Mass".

It was a truly special night, reminding us how great this band is as well as what an achievement "Doolittle" was, an album that we plan to give to a few of our friends that we know don't have it. Pixies! Please come back!