Photo by Caitlin Stallings.
Caitlin Stallings
Guest Columnist
I never thought I’d see the day where the iconic Pixies make their journey to the Richmond area.
My mom has always had exceptional taste in music and introduced me to many of the music artists I currently listen to.
In my 10th grade year of high school, I discovered a band unlike anything else I had ever heard—a band known as the Pixies.
My mom blasted the “Monkey Gone To Heaven” single in the car one day on our way back home, and I became an instant fan.
On January 29, 2014, a Wednesday evening, I was lucky enough to witness the nearly unclassifiable music of the Pixies amongst a sold-out, diverse audience.
My mother and I scrambled for pre-sale tickets months ahead of time just to be sure that we wouldn’t miss out on one of the defining bands of the late 80’s alternative rock movement.
$45 per ticket wasn’t so bad, considering our love and admiration for the Pixies’ unique style.
Plus, the concert was being held at my favorite venue in Richmond, The National.
The special guest, FIDLAR, which stands for “Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk,” was the perfect selection for the Pixies’ opening act.
The first song into their set “Cheap Beer” along with the tune “Cocaine” portrayed not only the meaning of the band’s name, but also their obvious care-free lifestyle.
Their sound reminded me of the surf rock band Wavves, but I also heard the influence of The Misfits in each of their songs.
To classify FIDLAR’s music into a specific genre, they are a fair mix between garage rock and punk rock.
The crowd absolutely loved FIDLAR’s sound, but let’s be real, everyone there just wanted to see the Pixies.
After the original bassist, Kim Deal, left the band in June 2013, most Pixies fans (including myself) were skeptical of whether or not the band could continue to exist without her. However, the Pixies found a quick replacement that didn’t last long, Kim Shattuck from The Muffs, before moving on to their current bassist, Paz Lenchantin, a former member of A Perfect Circle.
Once they hit the stage, the Pixies dove head first into the song “Bone Machine,” giving Paz Lenchantin her opportunity to show the crowd what she’s got.
Her style resembled Kim Deal’s flawlessly, but it had its own originality, too.
No one will ever compare to Kim Deal, but Paz Lenchantin is one hell of a bassist and certainly proved herself to the crowd.
They played in perfect harmony from start to finish, turning the grown-ups into little fan girls
for the remainder of the night.
I didn’t expect to see so much of the youth among the audience, but it definitely created a sense of togetherness among the younger and older fans in attendance.
The Pixies performed a few fan favorites including “Monkey Gone To Heaven,” “Wave of Mutilation,” “Gouge Away,” and of course, “Where is My Mind?”
They even played some of the new music from their albums “EP-1” and “EP-2” such as “Andro Queen,” “What Goes Boom,” “Magdalena,” and “Greens and Blues.”
When the end seemed near, the audience was not convinced that this would be it. Even though the Pixies had exited the stage, we all knew that they couldn’t just end the show so abruptly.
Once David Lovering settled himself into his drum set, the rest of the band came out and the encore we were all anxiously waiting for began.
The encore consisted of the songs “Debaser,” “Broken Face,” “Head On” and “U-Mass.”
After such a successful encore, the audience roared with excitement and begged for more.
The band left the stage, and just when we thought all had been sung and done, Paz Lenchantin grabbed her bass with all smiles as the rest of the Pixies got back into their places.
For their second encore, they played the song “Planet of Sound.”
Although I was really hoping to hear my favorite song “Hey,” I still left the show completely satisfied along with the rest of the crowd.