Pixies LIVE

The Pixies played a show at the Hamilton Convention Center on Wednesday evening and yours truly was in attendance.

I've taken a day to gather my thoughts on the night. Not really. I just haven't gotten around to posting anything about it until now. Overall I'd say it was a good show. The performance was great, but there were certain factors that kind of spoiled it.

Walking into the Convention Center was different than any concert I have ever been. Major lack of security. I didn't even get frisked. Kind of pleasant, but took away from the whole concert experience. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Hamilton's finest in attendance to chaperone the evening.

Beverages were a must. But alas I fell victim to the beer ticket system. I bought three but only had two reasonably priced beers. Than quickly turned to the stage to notice a major obstruction. Sitting about 20 feet in front of center stage was a massive cement support beam blocking the middle of the stage. This might be the last time I goto a concert at the Convention Center. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. Even as the Pixies were leaving the stage I saw Francis Black turn to Kim Deal and point at it as if to say, "what the hell?"

There were a couple issues with the house lights also. They came out for a second encore and the house lights stayed on the whole time. Major lack of attention to detail. A light show is nothing when the house lights are on. The whole place had a "high school dance" feel to it. It was odd.

Time for the positive. The Pixies absolutely killed their set. They featured a lot of b-sides as well as their more popular songs. Debaser, Hey, Here Comes Your Man and Where is my Mind stuck out from the array of guitar wailings and Francis shrieking. The light show was tantalizing and really emphasized the music and stage presence. They stood in silhouette for at least five songs before we got to see their faces. Kim Deal was really the only member of the band that did any talking throughout the show. Just to let us know what song might be up next. Great band but zero chemistry as far as on stage personality. The music they make tends to speak for itself though.

Overall a good experience. The only problems I had were with the venue. The band showed up and did their job well. Next time I see the Pixies I'll definitely try to make the trip to Toronto. I'm sure it was a much better experience.

DIG IT

For some reason this video doesn't have the embed option so I can only give you the link. This the actual event. Notice house lights on, and support beam...ugh. Here's the link.