PIXIES LIVE AT GLASGOW’S O2 ACADEMY

★★★★☆ (4/5)

PIXIES PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S O2 ACADEMY
PHOTOCREDIT: STUART WESTWOOD

I’ve been to the O2 Academy many times now, but I’ve never seen the Pixies which is quite surprising given I bought Doolittle when it first came out!

On Tuesday night I got to rectify that omission and finally see a band I’ve loved for years. I know not everyone loves the O2 in Glasgow but I actually quite like it, I did feel like the security getting in had gone up a level from past visits, I’m not sure the guy needed to pat me down quite so much, he could have bought me a drink first!

I finally got in to see the last three songs of the support act, the Pale White so I don’t feel able to fully review them but what I did hear sounded good, the three piece played and sang their hearts out and their offer to come back to Glasgow was greeted with warmth from the crowd so they must have done well. They finished off their set with an excellent drum solo, it’s clear that they are a great live band. One to keep an eye on and see again, I think!

The venue was now packed with expectant fans, what was great to see is that the Pixies are clearly not just living off past glories, there were a lot of younger fans there who can’t have been alive when the band first started making their wonderful music. They are developing a new fan base who are just as passionate and mixed well with all those who had clearly been there since the beginning. It’s always great to see a mix of ages at gigs and that was very much the case here.

So, was it worth the wait to see the Pixies? If I’m honest I thought their performance was a bit flat to begin with, a bit lacking in oomph, don’t get me wrong, they were still good, but I wasn’t getting blown away. Then, about half way through the set something changed, I don’t know if they decided to go up a gear or if it all just clicked. One of the highlights was Here comes your man by which time they had started to raise their game to the point I was getting blown away then the mass singalong started to the aforementioned song and from that point onwards there was no turning back. It turned into the kind of gig that lives long in the memory, this monkey had indeed gone to heaven (sorry!). The voice is still as good as it’s ever been, the passion was on full display, the ability to switch it up and down, to make the room go quiet and then mental, all of the things I’d hoped for from this gig were suddenly there in abundance. Debaser No problem, have a bit of that!

Throw in a Neil Young cover? Why not? Have a mass sing along repeatedly, all in a days work, blow every single cobweb away, no problem. The only reason this review isn’t five stars is the slow start, if the whole gig had been like the second half I would have had to invent a new rating of six stars.

One other thing I hadn’t been aware of before last night was, they don’t really talk to their audience, they are very much in the vein of letting the music do the talking. When the music is this good you really don’t need to say anything.

Would I go see the Pixies again, if you’d asked me after the first few songs, I’d probably have said that’s okay, I’ve seen them. After what they served up in the second half, I can’t wait. I’m now aware of what they are capable of and what a brilliant live band they are, when they turn it on like they eventually did last night there are very few bands that can live with this brilliant band.