Went to the Pixies show at Hammerstein Ballroom. They've sold out the place for at least 5 nights. Amazing. They sounded... well, beautiful. Not the expected word for the volume, intensity and clamor on stage, but the songs were lovely, mysterious and carefully worked out.
Afterwards Charles claimed there were problems, that it wasn't their best show, that he threw a shit fit (he disappeared from the stage early on). But I thought it sounded great. The NY audience were their common reserved selves — at least Charles' brother said everywhere else — "even Montreal!", he said, amazed — the audiences had generally been a lot more energetic.
Charles had on some black eyeliner which I couldn't see from my seat. (Michael Stipe does this too, is this something I should know about?) From the audience I thought it made him look like an Aztec or Mayan God, calmly but loudly issuing baffling cosmic pronouncements mixed with pain and rage.
I also wondered, being a Boston area band, if this is a Protestant band in spirit. Emotion is kept in check — rage and pain appear suddenly, like periodic explosions. The band eschews stage costumes, patter, dance and any pandering to the crowd. This is part of their staying power, I suspect — it makes it all more timeless — but it's also part of that Protestant reserve. I wonder if THAT'S what the show is about. If it's a ceremony in celebration of that — and of the tensions and conflicts that come with it.
No alcohol backstage... and probably no drugs either. This is a very clean band, maybe a little excessively clean — but given their history it might be a wise move.
