Alt-rock legends Pixies descended upon Aldermaston on the 27th of June.
It isn’t every day that absolute music royalty comes to visit in our back yard (outside of Reading Festival), so it would have been rude not to go! Pixies formed in 1986 and genuinely changed the music scene in a way few bands can claim to have done.
On The Mount at Wasing has been away for a couple of years. It is an interesting venue, not the most accessible, but there is a lot of car parking space available. For those who do find their way it is a very scenic space. There is a nice range of eating options, a decent bar and VIP areas for those who want to pay a few pounds extra to upgrade. There is a real desire to do everything as environmentally as possible as well, which should be commended. Phone signal is patchy at best though.
GANS
What an absolute treat to get GANS as a support act. The big question tonight was how would they cope with a big audience that wasn’t going to be familiar with them? We saw two brilliant performances from them last year in venues with a capacity around 200. In small venues their sweaty intensity can overwhelm the crowd completely. Would they demand an older audience of Pixies fans to open it up? Would they go out into the crowd and do the worm? So many questions.
We needn’t have worried, they of course smashed it. Since we last saw them they have added a third member, Tommy Lawther, on saxophone and flute which adds some extra layers. Euan is not taking the audiences average age into account at all and is still demanding it all. “Open that s**t up.” “Are you looking forward to Pixies? I heard there were 6,000 people here. You can do better than that!” “Come on. One more effort. Open it up. This is called a moshpit. If you haven’t been in one before I can tell you it is f*****g lovely!”
On the final track, more techno-edged than the others, Euan comes down to the front and jumps in with his microphone. Singing in the middle of it all before taking part in a spot of crowd surfing. As he returns to the stage he does the worm along the front of it.
Small stage or big stage, GANS are still extremely good for the soul. They have shown the step up to bigger events will be a doddle for them. More fans were won over today.
Pixies
Last night they were at The Eden Project so they were already warmed up for an unusual venue. Black Francis says the band were talking about what the very first track they ever played live was in Massachusetts, and that they cannot remember, but it might have been ‘The Holiday Song,’ which is what they kick off with.
It is an interestingly curated setlist. At times they barrel through three tracks with barely a pause. At other points they add in an extended breakdown making a song much longer. There is a reasonable representation of newer songs, but also a barrel load of classics.
It must have been quite something to see them at their peak. The three original members, Black Francis, lead guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer David Lovering are all now between 61 and 64 years of age. They still rock harder than many bands a fraction of their age and it all sounds very impressive. It is still noticeable though that Black Francis does not attack some of the tracks with the screaming fervour of his youth. The vocal duties for ‘In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song),’ for instance, are ceded to newcomer Emma Richardson. The latest replacement for Kim Deal gives the UK even more of a stake in the band as she was born in Southampton and was a member of Band Of Skulls.
For a Boston USA band Pixies are very Anglophile, the UK and the Netherlands paid attention to them properly long before their home country woke up to them. It was during their long hiatus that their legend grew. Aided by the use of ‘Where is My Mind?’ at the conclusion of the 1999 masterpiece Fight Club, and by bands that did break though wider, like Nirvana and Radiohead, giving their due to a group that changed the face of alt-rock music forever – the original masters of the quiet-loud dynamic. So despite the USA eventually waking up to them they still love a trip to the UK. Black Francis introduces ‘Motorway To Roswell’ by saying, “We borrowed this word from your vernacular.”
Despite fitting in twenty-eight songs there isn’t time to hear every track you want them to play, and it is less surprising that Gigantic is off the setlist when Black Francis does not need to be more respectful towards Kim Deal. The hits keep on coming though. ‘Here Comes Your Man,’ ‘Gouge Away’ and ‘Bone Machine’ are all deployed early on.
The run in towards the end shows what an absolutely God-tier band they are. Not many groups could complete with ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven,’ ‘Debaser,’ ‘Wave Of Mutilation,’ and ‘Where Is My Mind’ all played in a row. Interestingly, we get the normal version and the surf-rock version of ‘Wave Of Mutilation’ across the set list.
There is just time for one last song and it is one from the B-sides, Emma taking lead vocals for ‘Into The White.’ This was a strong outing. A band that is still in love with touring and performing. That enjoy their new music as much as their classics. A proper band and proper legends. They don’t go off and do the whole encore thing, twenty-eight tracks was more than enough for an extremely grateful crowd.
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