Pixies, December 13, 2017 at the Palladium

Some time ago in a conversation, someone who should know me better stated the assumption that out of all the concerts I’ve been to I’ve surely often gone just for one song. But it hasn’t happened even once. Though there are plenty of bands I’ve discovered from one song, I won’t bother if that’s their only good song or if it didn’t lead me to others just as good. The farthest I could stretch that is seeing a band casually at a festival knowing only one song, but in that case I didn’t go just for them (and it didn’t usually become anything that turned me on to them). I’ve gone to see Pixies for a number of reasons and I thought I had probably seen them enough to have covered any song they could conceivably play, but when I read that on yet another tour they were including “I’ve Been Tired” (a deep cut that’s always been an obsession) I decided that was reason enough. Though I started with only one ticket to keep the intention minor and limited only to myself, the night before it became a thing so I got one for Carla and we met up with Cid & Jon, and we even left the company holiday we were at early (and they had food and a raffle). We missed openers the Eagles of Death Metal (but Carla and Cid had surely had enough of them from years before) and the Orwells (and didn’t see their parents), but got there in time for the set. They’d played the Palladium before multiple times and we’d seen them there before multiple times, and the new songs didn’t sound any fresher for seeing them there, though they counted for a quarter of the songs they went through -- maybe too much but thoroughly mixed (as opposed to subjecting us to a chunk of them all at one time); a bummer for anyone discovering them through the post-reunion stuff (since somehow there must be those people somewhere), but smartly sticking mostly to the old set (though leaving out “Gigantic” and “The Holiday Song,” but also “Might As Well Be Gone,” maybe the only new song that could approach being considered decent (even while staying away the traditional Pixies sound)). “I’ve Been Tired” wasn’t a guarantee that they’d play -- it had been in the set but they’d skip it for a few shows before -- and even then it was doubtful that anyone else would be excited for it (even those who had seen Unbreakable, the only other time it’s ever gotten out into the wider world), but they did it, as if just to add anything at all fresh to the set that wasn’t one of the disappointing new tracks. If that counted for only going for one song then so be it, but at least the whole show wasn't for just that one song.

Pixies’ set-list:
“Gouge Away“
“U-Mass“
“Wave of Mutilation“
“Um Chagga Lagga“
“Head Carrier“
“Monkey Gone to Heaven“
“Caribou“
“Classic Masher“
“Bone Machine“
“I've Been Tired“
“Bel Esprit“
“Cactus“
“Subbacultcha“
“Magdalena 318“
“Tenement Song“
“Dead“
“Crackity Jones“
“Isla de Encanta“
“Planet of Sound“
“All the Saints“
“Here Comes Your Man“
“Silver Snail“
“Motorway to Roswell“
“Velouria“
“Havalina“
“Snakes“
“Wave of Mutilation“ (UK Surf)
“Nimrod's Son“
“Vamos“
“Where Is My Mind?“
“Winterlong“ (Neil Young cover)

“Hey“
“All I Think About Now“
“Debaser”