Andy J Ryan Apr 26, 2023

Pixies - Hordern Pavilion, 14 March, 2010

Two decades on, Pixies tour the globe to celebrate the anniversary of their landmark album, Doolittle.

Pixies arrived, shone and burned in seven years, leaving behind five albums that influenced scores of subsequent musicians and nudged the orbit of the music world ever so slightly off its endlessly safe, circular path. After imploding acrimoniously and the passing of more than a decade they returned, triumphantly, and now tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their second studio album, Doolittle. The record is one of the most enduringly consistent sellers of all time, picking up new listeners in every subsequent generation, which is reflected in the diverse crowd at the sold-out Hordern tonight.

After a tension-filled giant video image and droning riff intro, the band finally ambles on all dressed in black, and Kim Deal shrilly announces "B-side!" before they belt into 'Dancing the Manta Ray'. We get a rollicking 'Weird At My School' and a couple b-sides more before the album proper starts, with the throbbing run of bass notes and the buzzing riffs of 'Debaser' - which, for such a signature song, is given a jaunty little tempo trim and is a bit choppy and throwaway, to tell you the truth. I think the crowd put more effort into singing it than Francis/Frank/Charles did. The tempo lifts for the next cracking couplet of 'Tame' and 'Wave of Mutilation', which are absorbingly precise and powerful for the former and sweepingly sweet and epic for the latter, with the dance floor turning into a sea of raised arms and singing voices. It just gets even better as 'I Bleed' flows grandly into 'Here Comes Your Man' - prompting another mass crowd shout-along - and you wonder how so many superb songs could all possibly be on the one album.

'Monkey Gone To Heaven' was of course lapped up, and one thing about knowing the order of the songs is that many in the crowd scheduled bar stops through the slightly less magical quinella of 'Mr. Grieves' and 'Crackity Jones'. But they were back and swooning and swigging through the tender ode of 'La La Love You'. More crowd-assisted singing ensued for 'Hey' and it seemed to end all too soon with the final track, 'Gouge Away'.

Across its 15 songs Doolittle holds more diversity and intrigue than most bands whole careers. Everything from guttural screaming to sweet harmonies rolled through incessantly buzzing riffs, jolting tempo swings and all seeped in a myriad of deft melodies. The lyrics too both challenge and charm, traversing everything from the most obtuse theories of the galaxies right through to the most seemingly banal odes of affection.

The house lights burned, but the show wasn't over. A further bracket of classics and we're sent off with 'Gigantic' and a lot of big, big love for the Pixies.