Bexhill’s grade 1 listed De La Warr Pavilion has always been an otherworldly place.
Mendelsohn and Chermayeff’s great Modernist baby gazes out to sea in a long bleached sweep of concrete that hides all the sensuous curves of copper inside.
And so it was as The Pixies emerged into the ghostly green light that bathed the stage. No band chit-chat between sets but the strains of Gouge Away set the scene of bleached concrete hiding sensuous copper inside.
The September 12th gig was the first date of a longer European tour in a venue smaller than usual but, like the band, with maximum atmosphere and history.
Playing a career-spanning set including new album Beneath The Eyrie plus covers of Neil Young and Jesus and Mary Chain songs you didn’t have to wait long for a song from their first phase whilst giving us a preview of their new material, which although rooted in the Gothic sound of the Bad Seeds with a hint of The Cure, it sits well next to the loud-quiet-loud dynamic they are known for.
Kim Deal left the reformed band awhile ago and Paz Lenchantin does a good job in anchoring the rhythm section and providing lead and backing vocals. Black Francis as band leader screams and croons with an at times frightening intensity. David Lovering’s drumming in the live setting is more thunderous than on the record and Joey Santiago is coolness personified and at one point played the guitar with his flat cap.
Seeing and hearing music that was the soundtrack to your teenage years come to life was at times overwhelming. However, the overriding emotion was of fun and whilst revelling in a temporary nostalgia of the older songs, the new songs were strong and hopefully are part of more tours and records to come.
These were Pixies worth hunting for and finding after many years. Will they return to Bexhill (or Brighton) soon? Let’s hope so.
Setlist
- Gouge Away
- On Graveyard Hill
- Monkey Gone to Heaven
- Cactus
- I’ve Been Tired
- St. Nazaire
- Rock Music
- Caribou
- Death Horizon
- Here Comes Your Man
- All the Saints
- Where Is My Mind?
- Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
- Ed Is Dead
- Bird of Prey
- Nimrod’s Son
- In the Arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain
- Winterlong (Neil Young cover)
- Hey
- Mr. Grieves
- No. 13 Baby
- Catfish Kate
- This Is My Fate
- Bone Machine
- Debaser
- Head On (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
- Tame
- Gigantic
- River Euphrates
- Planet of Sound
- Daniel Boone
- Velouria
- Vamos
- Ana (Encore)
Plugged In Brighton 