Review: The Pixies “Doolittle Tour”

The Pixies rolled into town for their "Doolittle Tour" this week and the Yeah Right crew was unfortunately unable to attend.  Luckily, Yeah Right reader Roxanne hit up DAR Constitution Hall on Monday night and has a full review after the break.  For pictures of the show, check out Brightest Young Things.

Here's the scoop from Roxanne:

The much-awaited Doolittle tour, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the album by the same name, made its way to DC on Monday night, and I didn’t even care it was a school night. I was not going to miss this.

I was at the Pixies reunion tour five years ago and while this had a different sort of anticipation, it was not any less exciting. Doolittle is consistently ranked one of the most influential alternative rock albums ever and got excellent reviews from the beginning. And here was a chance to listen to its every song played live before my eyes. The word on the street was that the Pixies would also play some B-sides…the only question was, “which ones?” All I kept thinking was “please, please play ‘Manta Ray’ tonight” – likely my favorite Pixies song.

The energy for the show was high, even if the average age of the audience was too. I entered the main auditorium at DAR to hear classic songs by some of the Pixies’ contemporaries from decades ago - Belly, The Cure, Jane's Addiction and wondered exactly what year it was. But no one seemed to mind - dancing, singing along, and generally being transported back to a time when Doolittle would have been something you listened to on cassette. Good times!

At about 8:45, the audience started to get antsy knowing that soon the band was to begin as the screens behind the stage came to life displaying images of Salvador Dali’s movie Un chien andalou, a movie that Black Francis gives a shout-out to on Doolittle’s first song, “Debaser”. Then, the lights dimmed and the fun began.

The Pixies opened with playing about 4 B-sides, starting with “Dancing the Manta Ray” and including “Bailey’s Walk”, then launched into playing the album in order. The faster songs played well with the audience, many singing and dancing along to the album’s best-known songs, like “Debaser”, “Monkey Gone to Heaven”, and “Here Comes Your Man”. My personal favorites for nostalgic reasons included “Crackity Jones”, “Gouge Away” and “La La Love You”, which I played endlessly while learning to play drums in college. They all sounded great and the crowd seemed to respond accordingly. If I had to select a song that I thought missed the mark a bit, it would be “Hey”. It is a fantastic song with a haunting guitar solo that is like an audio equivalent of a belly dance. But the band didn’t seem quite on top of it for some reason…they just seemed off. Too bad because that song is amazing when heard loudly.

There were two formal encores including a mix of their “greatest hits”: “Wave of Mutilation” (the U.K. Surf version), Surfer Rosa’s “Where is My Mind?” and “Gigantic”, then a true classic off of Come On Pilgrim, “Caribou”. I thought one of the highlights of the encores, and maybe the whole show for me, was the excellent live performance of “Into the White”, which included a serious light show accompaniment. It really did feel like the late 80s – you know, when closing your eyes and dancing to laser lights becomes a rave-like experience. It was like getting on a magic carpet ride and traveling through DAR.

As the show went on, Pixies’ bassist Kim Deal kept track of the songs and where on the album they fell, reminding the audience a few times that songs were much shorter back then and listening to a complete album didn’t take very long. Indeed the show seemed to go by very quickly – the whole album taking less than an hour. And after the two encores, we sadly thought it might be over. And then, as if some burst of energy overcame the band, they all agreed on stage to play one last tune for us. Surprisingly, it was another off of Come On Pilgrim – “Nimrod’s Son.” This time the house lights were left on and everyone could watch each other’s enthusiasm. Like the entire show, it was electrifying.

Oh yeah, and if you are wondering if they played “Manta Ray”? Yes, they did! The last B-side played before they launched into song one from the album. Pure joy! I am still smiling.

Comments

[BATMAN]

I'm jealous I missed it. Was playing "Gouge Away" in the car yesterday, and it's really one of those songs that DEMANDS the volume to go up. So good.
(Another one off that album that seems too often overlooked is "I Bleed.")

[Will G.]

Then Bossanova arrived with a thud... first big letdown of the 90s...