I was pretty beat yesterday. Primal Scream on Friday night, followed by the after-party at Asbury Lanes, followed by my OCD-ily editing photos until 3AM, followed by driving to swim practice at 7 AM had left me a little spent. CoolMom and I had been waiting for this Pixies show, though, since it was announced. I wasn't going to let the fog of exhaustion ruin it for me.
Summer's here at CoolDad Music HQ. That means the pool is open (and still cold) and we've got a new grill. CoolMom and I broke that (the grill) in last night with the kids and then headed to the show.
We were on line getting our IDs checked (actually having them out and not getting them checked) just as John Grant was saying goodbye to the crowd. Just like The Replacements show a couple weeks back, the outdoor curfew meant that things would be on a really early schedule. It was just after 6:30.
I saw TV On The Radio from afar a couple of years ago at FYF in Los Angeles. It was kind of like, "Oh. There's a band over there really far away at the end of this big, dusty field." Their record, Dear Science, was a favorite of mine back when it was out in 2008; and I didn't want that experience again. I'd resolved to take things easy for the evening and not stress so much about where we stood and what our view was like, though; so it was CoolMom who said, "Let's go up front." We ended up one row of people off the rail.
The band came out just after 7 and did an approximately 1-hour set that, by necessity, left out a couple of my favorites but covered all the major bases. "Wolf Like Me" is still an amazing track as are "Young Liars," "Golden Age," "DLZ," and "Dancing Choose." Newer songs like "Happy Idiot" and "Could You" had some of the younger people around us jumping. Vocalist Tunde Adebimpe and guitarist Kyp Malone thanked The Pixies several times and made it a point to mention how wonderful it was for all of us to be in the same place together. That was kind of cool.
At precisely 8:30, The Pixies took the stage. Founding members Black Francis, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering are now joined on tour by bassist Paz Lenchantin. They opened with Come on Pilgrim's "Ed Is Dead" and went right into "Nimrod's Son" from the same record. They followed that with the slowed down, surf version of "Wave of Mutilation" that can be heard on the Doolittle reissue.
I haven't really heard Indie Cindy, last year's return from the band's 23-year recording hiatus. It was less than well-received (Pitchfork famously gave it a 1.0 out of 10.), and I may have fallen for the anti-hype a bit. The band interspersed tracks from that record -- "Magdalena 318," "Indie Cindy," "Bagboy," "Silver Snail," "Snakes" -- throughout the set, and they fit in pretty seamlessly. I remember liking "Bagboy" when it came out as a single, especially the Kim-like backing vocals.
Speaking of Kim: Yeah, I felt her absence (and the absence of "Gigantic" from the set). Lenchantin did a great job throughout, though, on bass and backing vocals. She's a bit more animated than the rest of the band and has that bass player stalk / runway walk thing totally down.
This was my first time being so close at a Summer Stage show that I didn't have to deal with too much bro-like idiocy. Things got animated during "Here Comes Your Man," "Gouge Away," "Debaser," and especially "Crackity Jones." It wasn't anything that drew too much ire from CoolMom, though, which is saying something.
After "Hey" and "Planet of Sound," as the clock neared 10pm, the band stopped playing, put down their instruments and kind of waved, shrugging and smiling sheepishly. It looked like some negotiations took place, someone from the crew finally consulting his watch and nodding for the band to play a couple more songs.
It was during this "encore" that we got "Where Is My Mind" and Come On Pilgrim's "Vamos." Then we were really done. I think it was 10:04. The police didn't burst through the gates.
CoolMom and I contemplated grabbing a crepe on the boardwalk or even stopping in at the Lanes so that I could provide further evidence that, yes, I really do have a wife and that she's even more wonderful than I say. In the end, though, we packed it in. I was so tired, and my feet were killing me.
I slept in (for me) this morning.
The Pixies, The Replacements, Superchunk, and Primal Scream over the course of two weeks. Not bad.
Here are some of my shots with the Lumix LX7 from our spot in the crowd.
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