Live Reviews

The 40 greatest concerts in Boston history: 17

The Pixies | Paradise Rock Club | August 8, 2005

By PHOENIX STAFF | October 25, 2006

concerts_17
Rock, stop, and bop: The Pixes at the Paradise, August 15, 2005. By Matt Ashare

Kim Deal, live at the Paradise in 2005, from the show's DVD

Unless you were lucky enough to see the Surfer Rosa–era Pixies at the long-defunct Green Street Station, this was a band who rarely seemed all that excited to be on stage during phase one of their career. But at this semi-secret show that was being filmed for a DVD, the reunited Pixies were having fun — lots of fun. And it was infectious. The set didn’t exactly start out well: they had to restart “La La Love,” a song drummer David Lovering was having trouble singing to begin with, and then trudged through “Winterlong” with Charles “Frank Black Francis” Thompson still wearing an acoustic instead of his trademark Tele. But they were messing around to get comfortable with the dozen cameras that were following their every move. Five songs into the set, Thompson grabbed his Tele and the Pixies rocked hard and good. They joked with each other; Thompson let Kim sing “Gigantic”; and they tore into tunes like “Wave of Mutilation” and “Bone Machine.” It was a triumph of sorts, seeing a band who’d influenced so many others finally getting their due — finally getting paid.

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Topics: Live Reviews , Kim Deal , Bob Dylan , David Lovering , More

Comments

The 40 greatest concerts in Boston history: 17

I'd have to go check my ticket stub which is probably safely ensconced in the back of the jewel box for Trompe Le Monde or something, but my one and only Pixies show was the night before Thanksgiving (and now I'm going to guess 1991) at The Orpheum. The legendary Pixies blew the roof off the place that night. It has been in my own personal top ten list ever since. I think they were feuding and quite possibly broke up right then and there, but man was this a great show. UMass mixed in with Gigantic and Where is My Mind? I was jazzed for months after seeing them live at point blank range.

By John Farrell on 10/26/2006 at 9:33:01

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