missy aggravation, some sacred questions

March 4, 2004 10:09 AM

Gouge away / you can gouge away / stay all day / if you want to / chained to the pillars / a 3-day party / i break the walls / and kill us all / with holy fingers
posted by shoepal (26 comments total)

(yes, I know Coachella is really only a 2-day party)
posted by shoepal at 10:11 AM on March 4, 2004

Anybody got an extra ticket to the Vancouver show? Victoria, Eugene, Spokane, or Boise would work too...
posted by mr_roboto at 10:12 AM on March 4, 2004

some marijuana if you got some
posted by eyeballkid at 10:26 AM on March 4, 2004

Damn, I am so on the wrong coast. I remember trying to dupe out that 'un chien andalusian' line for days, head buried in boombox speakers. No convenient web search then. Maybe things are looking up after all.
posted by umberto at 10:34 AM on March 4, 2004

Ouch... looks like I won't be seeing them this time around... maybe I'll catch them on the next reunion.
posted by wfrgms at 10:34 AM on March 4, 2004

wfrgms This is apparently a warm-up tour - they're doing shows in Europe after this, and apparently a large number of US dates in the fall/winter.
posted by phong3d at 10:42 AM on March 4, 2004

Any other MeFites going to Coachella this year?
posted by Asparagirl at 10:47 AM on March 4, 2004

Aw, man, we never get any decent concerts round my parts. The Pixies are one of maybe five bands that I would pay the inflated E-Bay prices to see...
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:50 AM on March 4, 2004

Time has not been kind to the Pixies. What made them fresh back in the day now sounds like Third Eye Blind.
posted by dydecker at 10:53 AM on March 4, 2004

Joey Michaels, you aren't missing much. They're not very good live. I've seen them twice (second time I actually went to see the opener, Pere Ubu). And this was way back when a) they were on top of their game and b) playing small venues. I can't imagine they've improved with time--not to mention the places they're playing now will be way too big to enjoy them, I would think. Save your bux and go see a band that's worth catching live. There are tons of amazing live acts these days who you can see for a resonable price. Then, 10 years from now when you that band is retouring you can tell people you saw them way back when (and they probably haven't improved with age).
posted by dobbs at 11:08 AM on March 4, 2004

Any other MeFites going to Coachella this year?

*raises hand*

dobbs: I've seen them quite a few times. They're mostly just a stand around and play kind of band, but the music is still great live. Watching Joey Santiago bounce his guitar off of every surface on the stage during "Vamos" is always fun.

Time has not been kind to the Pixies. What made them fresh back in the day now sounds like Third Eye Blind.

Yeah, because there are so many pop bands that sound like The Pixies.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:35 AM on March 4, 2004

Oh my, I think I just gave birth to something in my chair!! There is no way this band is not going to play the east coast, especially NYC and their homeground of Boston. So I'm betting on what phong3d has said. Let the warm ups begin!

I saw Frank Black on tour for his first solo album with Joey Santiago, and it was one of the worst concerts I've ever seen. I hope that doesn't mean the full band will suck.
posted by archimago at 11:44 AM on March 4, 2004

The Pixies... damn near invented the soft, acoustic verse followed by the exploding, distorted chorus that grungers so favored
So they're the ones! I hate that when bands do that. It has become the cliche of a whole generation of music.
posted by Faze at 11:59 AM on March 4, 2004

yup. the chorus from the pixies' UMASS = the riff for smells like teen spirit
posted by sunexplodes at 12:16 PM on March 4, 2004

But Faze, how many bands are responsible for the cliche of a whole generation of music?

"As Kurt Cobain readily told anyone who cared to hear, Nirvana's Nevermind wouldn't have happened without the Pixies' Doolittle. When it came out in 1989, the Pixies' abrasive guitars and twisted, nightmarish vision were eclipsed by the bad-boy cool of Guns n' Roses and the frothy pop of Fine Young Cannibals. For angry, punk self-reflection, you had to comb the indie underground.
The Pixies changed all that, and with Doolittle laid the groundwork for Nineties rock. The album's breathtaking mix of noisy, almost surflike guitars, sweet pop melodies and primal-scream-therapy vocals inspired a generation of would-be rock stars: Nirvana adopted the Pixies use of quiet, mumbled verses and loud, crashing choruses, Courtney Love aped their banshee wails, and Beck drew inspiration from their catalog of surrealistic lyrics." Rolling Stone, issue 910, November 28, 2002
posted by shoepal at 12:19 PM on March 4, 2004

fuck, i still love the pixies, to me all their albums still sound as good as ever except for trompe le monde (maybe because of the production)

i'm not going to pay some jacked up price to see them though, i'd be afraid that it'd be like to going to a rolling stones concert
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 1:01 PM on March 4, 2004

Ah, seeing the pixies live changed my life. Kim Deal looked into my eyes and saw my soul, I swear.

But between Kim performing on Courtney Love's new album, and David Lovering not picking up any drumsticks for the last several years, I wonder how the show will sound. I'm almost convinced the tour is a press stunt for Frank Black Francis' new album.

Even with the interweb, is it really possible to sell out shows in under five minutes?

And why didn't Joey Santiago record any other musics than the song on the Empire Records soundtrack???
posted by armacy at 1:05 PM on March 4, 2004

Armacy, I'm convinced Kim and Charles are going to have a falling out before they get through the European dates.
posted by shoepal at 1:57 PM on March 4, 2004

Kim Deal's good at that look-into-your-soul thing, armacy. Did it to me in Glasgow.

Now, a Scottish dilemma: in a field at T in the Park ... or in a rugby ground with lots of bored Red Hot Chili Peppers fans impatient for will-this-still-do funk to begin? Hmm.
posted by bonaldi at 2:33 PM on March 4, 2004

my word , were you at the barrowlands gig too ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:10 PM on March 4, 2004

the chorus from the pixies' UMASS = the riff for smells like teen spirit

fwiw, sunexplodes:
riff in smells like teen spirit=riff from more than a feeling by boston

the riffs are nearly identical, and certain nirvana boots include a live recording of nirvana playing more than a feeling.
posted by mcgraw at 6:35 AM on March 5, 2004

!
posted by mcgraw at 6:40 AM on March 5, 2004

Aren't they recording a new album too?
posted by maggie at 6:45 AM on March 5, 2004

Any other MeFites going to Coachella this year?

*raises hand too*

Making the trek from Charlotte to LAX to Palm Springs for this. And this is 4 days after I get back from a 10 day jaunt thru Europe. The Pixies definitely made it a must see, tho all those other bands playing (The Cure, Radiohead, Kraftwerk, Air, Death Cab, BSS, Cursive, Trail of Dead, Antibalas Afrobeat, etc. etc.) make this probably the single best concert I'll ever see. 8) Especially seeing radiohead play a show for their two biggest influences (The Pixies and Kraftwerk)... just too good to be true.

the only thing that sucks is that the non-headliners sets will probably be only 45 min long...
posted by skechada at 10:29 AM on March 5, 2004

Also doing the 'Chella, but Saturday only. And there are enough bands on the bill that you could take the Pixies out of the mix and I'd still be frothing at the mouth.
posted by LionIndex at 11:33 AM on March 5, 2004

No, sgt, was at The Breeders at QMU. Who ruled like ... um ... a very flat stick with markings at even spacings along one edge, in the hand of a reigning monarch.
posted by bonaldi at 7:42 PM on March 5, 2004