Pixies at Hammerstein Ballroom (11/23/09)
Photo: Dese’Rae Stage
Hey folks, a little late on the draw with these (long story), but better late than never right? Here’s what Ben Ratliff of the NYTimes (what no Sisario?) had to say about night 1 (Nov 23) of The Pixies residency at the Hammerstein Ballroom:
Monday’s show was sturdy, dutiful and not particularly thrilling. It really was a concert about an album, and not much more: obliging the nostalgic impulse for a sold-out crowd, giving the catalog a watering. “Debaser,” one of the best songs on “Doolittle,” contains references to the Buñuel-Dalà Surrealist film “Un Chien Andalou.” And so a seven-minute portion of it “” including the famous slashed-eyeball scene “” was shown before the music started. The band began with four B sides, and then got down to business.
At this point, the Pixies cut across rock taste, still appealing to inward weirdoes but giving the audience a foothold with really shoutable chorus chants. Those chants, as sung by Black Francis, the band’s principal singer and songwriter, were usually strange “” like the French word “chien!” from “Debaser,” or “wave of mutilation,” from the song of the same name. (It was performed twice: once in its punkish album form and once in its slow, gorgeous, surfy version, released on a B side.) In any case, the Pixies are “” or were “” stealth anthem-writers. [NYTimes.com]
One last thing for Pixies fans out there, you can win a copy of the limited edition Minotaur box set, and a lot of other deluxe items over here:
To win a collection of five sets, the complete A+R Catalog, the Pixies’ Minotaur (Limited Edition), Beck’s The Information (Deluxe Edition Vinyl Package), Julian Casablanca’s Phrazes for the Young (Luxury Edition Deluxe Set), and two sold-out sets: Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts I-IV (Ultra Deluxe Limited Edition) and Sigur Ros’ In A Frozen Sea (Limited Edition Vinyl Album Collection). The winner will be announced from a drawing on December 25th.
More photos from night 1 of the Pixies “Doolitle” show after the jump.
Pixies at Hammerstein Ballroom (11/23/09) by Dese’Rae Stage
Great photos!