My visits to Los Angeles are always an adventure packed with tons of fun, this time was no different.
How about three nights of intimate Pixies shows?
The Pixies – December 1st – No Vacancy – Hollywood, CA
I’d been to this very unique spot in Hollywood last year while doing some filming for our King’s X documentary. While the place is hopelessly for Hollywood hipsters who think they are in on some major secret that makes them feel special by patronizing the joint, it doesn’t make it’s decor & ambience truly one of a kind. Kind of feels like a Haunted Hotel with bar service. So I was happy to return, especially as the Pixies were gonna make a brief appearance ahead of their 2 intimate nights at the legendary Troubadour. Leave it to the Pixies, to outdo that by playing a place even smaller the night before.
Also to be clear, this isn’t a music venue, it’s very much a hipster bar with a dance floor and theme that’s made to feel like an old Hollywood mansion. The band setup on the “porch” where you would enter the courtyard to do your best Ella Fitzgerald impression. A brief, no frills, but fun mini-set consisting of three songs from their new LP Beneath The Eyrie as well as one of their biggest songs at the end.
Setlist:
Catfish Kate
On Graveyard Hill
Bird of Prey
Monkey Gone to Heaven
The Pixies – December 2nd-3rd – The Troubadour – Hollywood, CA
The group is playing only six Close and Personal North American concerts with a rare stop at Troubadour for Opening Night.
Night 1
When I arrived the line wrapped around the block & I was eagerly excited to get inside. Not only was I about to see The Pixies in a tiny spot (again) but here at this Rock N Roll institution, a place I somehow, in all of my years of galivanting the world in the name of musical adventure, I’d never been here.
Once inside, I was truly taken aback by just how intimate it really is. We had just seen the Elton John biopic Rocketman & of course that story includes his infamous star turn here back in the year of my birth & I couldn’t imagine it was so tiny. Motley Crue played here during the earliest days of their career. Man what I would give to have been at one of those.
But hey, I can’t complain, now I’m here or two glorious nights with one of my fave bands of all time performing on their own terms, swept up in a torrent wave of creativity, improvisation and craftsmanship that was awe inspiring and mind blowing.
There was no small talk or banter from the stage, but the giddy audience didn’t seem upset or disappointed. Instead, fans were entranced and mesmerized by the raw and explosive combination of eclectic talents of the founding members Black Francis, guitarist Joey Santiago, drummer David Lovering and the newest addition to the Pixies lineup, bassist Paz Lenchantin who joined the band permanently in 2016 after touring with them in 2014.
With an expansive and generous set list of over 40 songs over two hours featuring material from their entire career + three covers while diving deep into their seminal catalog of material. All the songs that they performed stood as a testament and reminder of their legacy and enduring popularity that’s impossible to overstate.
Setlist:
Cecilia Ann (The Surftones cover)
St. Nazaire
Brick is Red
Break My Body
Wave of Mutilation
Classic Masher
Caribou
Cactus
On Graveyard Hill
I’ve Been Tired
Head On (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
Hey
Los Surfers Muertos
Planet of Sound
All the Saints
Death Horizon
Here Comes Your Man
The Holiday Song
Ready for Love
Bird of Prey
Nimrod’s Son
Silver Bullet
Gouge Away
Bel Esprit
Crackity Jones
Isla de Encanta
Something Against You
Bone Machine
Mr. Grieves
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Catfish Kate
This Is My Fate
Vamos (aborted)
Ed Is Dead
Where Is My Mind?
Winterlong (Neil Young cover)
Havalina
Daniel Boone
Motorway to Roswell
In the Arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Night 2
The second night began with a false start that they good naturedly laughed off. The show wasn’t quite as long & the place seemed to be more crowded but who can complain as they still performed a whopping 38 songs.
Close to two hours in, Black Francis announced, “We’re not going to do an encore, but we will play a little longer,” which was music to our ears. And so they played a couple of final songs, including one of their most aggressive numbers, the aptly-titled “Rock Music,” and “Debaser,” the latter an indelible pop tune about the Luis Buñel and Salvador Dalí short film Un Chien Andalou
Setlist:
Vamos (false start, restarted)
Mr. Grieves
Brick Is Red
Nimrod’s Son
Blown Away
The Holiday Song
In the Arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain
Ana
Death Horizon
Here Comes Your Man
Where Is My Mind?
Ready for Love
Daniel Boone
Ed Is Dead
Break My Body
Bird of Prey
Silver Bullet
Havalina
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Winterlong (Neil Young cover)
Gouge Away
Tame
Cactus
Los Surfers Muertos
Hey
Caribou
Debaser
Planet of Sound
This Is My Fate
Catfish Kate
Velouria
Snakes
River Euphrates
On Graveyard Hill
Broken Face
Isla de Encanta
St. Nazaire
Bone Machine
I missed the Pixies during their first incarnation (1987-1992) but have done my best to make up for it since. Now I can add a legendary 3 night stand to the mix. Awesome.
(earlier that day) Beck – Jimmy Kimmel Studios – Hollywood, CA
Ok so earlier that day I (briefly) attended something that I initially thought would be cool (or at least worth my time that maybe quite wasn’t).
I was staying at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel which is literally across the street from the lot on Hollywood Blvd where they film the Jimmy Kimmel show and it’s end of show concerts. I got an invitation that Beck was playing but it being January (the concerts are generally held outdoors in the studio’s parking lot).
I thought “Cool, gonna see a private mini Beck show & I can walk there” – I wanted to be clear that I was NOT interested in anything to do with being a “seat filler”. You know when you watch TV that’s filmed in front of live studio audience, if you’ve never done it, you might think “Man, I’d love to be a part of that if I’m ever in LA or NYC (or wherever filming of these sorts generally takes place). Unless your the type of person who doesn’t mind trading the majority of your dignity to be near celebrity & can somehow tolerate others where that concept is completely lost, don’t ever do it, it’s a miserable experience.
I didn’t have much to lose as I was literally across the street, so I walked over at the requested “invite” time only to find out after waiting outside for an hour, that yes indeed this was one of those god dammned seat filler things. And even worse, you weren’t even gonna get the whole program (which for me was a blessing as I would have fight my way outta there). I thought, “Ok I can do this brief thing, learn my lesson (again) & gtfo”). Come to find out after being herded like cattle with the most insufferable group every who’s entire collective self-awareness quotient was ZERO, this motherfucker is playing exactly ONE SONG.
I guess because he’s Beck (yawn) that he didn’t want his “performance” to be anything typical so instead of doing the two song thing most light night acts do, he wanted to do this full on conceptual video thing for the lame new single from his even lamer new album. So all of this was to flaunt his bad ideas on a whim and the dopey saps around me where more than happy to oblige. Never again.
Photos –
Roy Turner
