The alt-rock icons astonished 40 years into their career while Gans proved an unforgettable support act
Joey Santiago, Pixies’ laidback guitar hero, on stage at the Eden Project(Image: Kathryn Nichols)
Some gigs are bigger than just seeing a show on your doorstep and some bands mean more than simply being a bunch of musicians who’ve made some good records.
When I was 17 in the pretty musically dire year of 1987, an album cover caught my attention in a record shop I worked in. A freakish sepia-tinged photo of a man with an exceedingly hairy back. That meant the music inside had to be interesting, right?
The fact that it was on the 4AD label also pointed to it being rather different, as it was home to some of my favourite bands – Cocteau Twins and Throwing Muses among them.
Within the first few seconds of Caribou on Pixies’ debut mini album Come On Pilgrim I was more than hooked. My world had jolted sideways and I was never quite the same. This was music I’d never heard before – alien, sexy, thrilling and more than a little scary.
Was that a man or woman screaming like their entrails were being torn out, how could a guitar sound so damn evil and intoxicating, what were these strange Old Testament words about being the son of a … you know what?
That was it – my teenage years into my early 20s were spent praying at the demonic altar of Black Francis and co, which largely meant odd jobs paying for trips across the country with my equally besotted mates to see every possible Pixies gig going. Joyfully, some of those friends were at last night’s Eden Session.
Pixies were my Beatles in many ways – through them I discovered the likes of Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Mudhoney, Big Black, Butthole Surfers and Nirvana (who nicked their sound – oh yes they did). All that nasty American stuff which basically reinvented the guitar; the effects of which can still be felt now, decades down the line.
Heavenly times, no responsibilities, epic gigs, wonderful records (Surfer Rosa and Doolittle among them), massive laughs … and then they split (but not before I bumped into bassist Kim Deal on the street in Bristol, leading to her peppering that night’s Pixies gig with some good old Cornish phrases like “thank you, me ‘andsomes” and “bless you, my birds” – still a life highlight).
Life went on but I felt a bit bereft in a Pixies-less world. Then in 2004 they announced they were reuniting – front of the balcony at Brixton Academy, I found myself welling up, that’s how much those songs and that band meant to me.
Charles ‘Black Francis’ Thompson can still roar and scream his heart out(Image: Kathryn Nichols)
It’s fair to say, there have been diminishing returns with the albums they’ve released during their second life (although each contains some gems) and they have been Deal-less for quite some time. It’s up to others to argue if it’s truly Pixies without Kim.
But I still love them. It was a joy to see the band at Eden back in 2014 – who would ever have thought Pixies would play in Cornwall? They returned last night and I still felt like a giddy schoolboy albeit one with a grey beard, no hair and three grown-up daughters who sing along to Monkey Gone To Heaven.
Something curious has happened since I last saw the band, even in just five years. The kids have discovered them. Probably through a mix of parents who have never grown up like me, streaming and TikTok, there is now furious moshing and crowd surfing by fans, some of whom are young enough to be Charles Thompson’s grandchildren.
It seems to have awoken something in Pixies – they’ve always been great live, but there’s a new vitality.
Let’s talk about Gans first though. I reckon 97 per cent of the audience hadn’t heard of them before last night, but they certainly made a lot of new fans.
Tommy Lawther shows Gans’ sax appeal, opening for Pixies at the Eden Sessions(Image: Kathryn Nichols)
Playing rowdy industrial dance-punk with added sax and, yes, flute, the Midlands trio certainly know how to get a party started, with singing/shouting drummer Euan Woodman riling the crowd right up and ending up being carried by them after diving in. Definitely one of the most memorable Sessions support bands I’ve seen.
Then Pixies came on. They don’t do much, never have – no theatrics here (apart from when Joey Santiago plays the Vamos solo with the unplugged guitar lead and his hat), it’s all about delivering the songs.
It doesn’t get any better than the opening salvo of Cactus, Nimrod’s Son and Here Comes Your Man. Fiery Pixies, pop Pixies and singalong Pixies right there, often in the same song.
Classics? They played them – Hey, Caribou, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Wave of Mutilation, Planet of Sound, Gouge Away, Debaser. Fan favourites – I Bleed, Tame, No 13 Baby, U-Mass, Motorway To Roswell.
Pixies returned to the Eden Sessions 12 years after last playing in Cornwall(Image: Lee Trewhela / CornwallLive)
Then they throw in songs you’ve forgotten about and realise they’re gems too – the hazy surf twang of Ana, the epic-for-Pixies All Over The World. Emma Richardson does a sterling job on bass and vocals, fronting their version of In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song) from Eraserhead and the final wild blast of Into The White.
New songs were kept to a minimum – they know what people want – but The Vegas Suite and Death Horizon are both beautiful additions, which don’t detract at all from the set.
It’s obvious that one particular Pixies song has taken on a life of its own – a sea of phones are held aloft as soon as Where Is My Mind? starts. From Fight Club to social media memes, it’s travelled far from the Pixies-sphere and it still sounds eerie and enchanting.
And it made me well up (again). The band I have loved for almost 40 years playing 20 minutes away from where I live and sounding better than ever. I’m amazed.