Pixies

It’s not everyday you get to see a band who have been on your bucket list for as long as you can remember. I think most people in my age range will know the Pixies from the use of their song ‘Where Is My Mind’ at the end of Fight Club. But for me, it was through playing the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games on the PS1 and PS2, where the band’s songs have featured multiple times.

So there I was, in the photo pit at the 02 Academy, waiting for this legendary band to take the stage. I didn’t know what to expect, and if you told me I’d be treated to a two hour (28 song) set, I’d have said you were mad. The band took to the stage and opened with ‘In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)’, a cover originally by Peter Ivers and David Lynch, which being a fan of the late great director, to hear a song from Eraserhead totally blew me away.

Without even taking a second, the band burst into their hit song ‘Here Comes Your Man’, the arena erupting with the opening guitar twang. With a huge back catalogue to choose from, the crowd were treated to a myriad of hits from over the years, with a personal highlight for myself being ‘Debaser’, a classic from the band’s second album ‘Doolittle’.

One thing kept occurring to me throughout the show as I stood with the crowd taking it all in, and that was the thought of “how can a band who have been around for this long still perform with so much energy?”.

It was hit after hit, with another cover included in the form of ‘Head On’ by The Jesus and Mary Chain, and it felt like there was no real end in sight for the evening, not that anyone in the venue was complaining.

Things came to a head in the encore when the band performed the now legendary ‘Where Is My Mind’, with the crowd quite literally screaming the words back at the band on stage, before closing with Into The White.

It can sometimes be a bittersweet experience going to see a band who have been performing for so long. Unfortunately, whether due to age taking its toll or audiences evolving, some older bands just don’t have the juice anymore. This isn’t the case with the Pixies, as they’ve got it in spades, and I for one will be seeing them again at the next available opportunity.