The Pixies - Brixton Academy - Friday June 4th, 2004

Awesome.

Just quite simply awesome.

I mean, if they'd have kept the lights low and got any old screaming fat bloke up there to do a half-decent Black Francis/Frank Black/Whatisface impression (Tarry?) I'd have been happy-ish. at least I'd have seen the Pixies live, right?

Normally, you don't expect much from reunion gigs, they're just a big cash-in, right? (and make no mistke, this was a big cash-in, they've made no secret of that.)

But boy did they earn their pie money. They opened with Bone Machine - the perfect opener in my opinion, and preceded to blaze through God-knows how many tracks, finishing the main set with Vamos, complete with extended wall-of-sound guitar solo. This is what Hendrix was meant to teach us...

They sounded tight, Frank screamed his lungs out, and Kim's voice just set it off beautifully. They seemed to really enjoy themselves, and genuinely appreciated the reception they got (and what a reception - I've never seen such a genuine demand for a second encore, and they played it too!).

It was an incredible gig, definately top three (R.E.M. in Trafalgar square, and Radiohead in Oxford's South Park, since you didn't ask...) and indisputably the best gig I've ever seen in a regular venue.

So I quite enjoyed it.

No, really.