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The Urge set was WAYYYYYY too loud. The Aragon sound system really does suck, especially if you set it up for the Pixies and then U.R.G.E. rolls in two huge Marshall doublestacks and blows everything out. It was a shame the sound was so shitty, because they played about as good a set as they possibly could have, in terms of song choice and performance.
It seems King Roeser (who had gained a lot of weight and looked like some grotesque version of Tom "LIFE IS A HIIIIIGHWAY" Cochran) has returned to at least splitting the role of frontman, a move I wholeheartedly endorse. Make no mistake, U.R.G.E. was always King's band, even when Kato was borrowing the frontman role during the Saturation era. They had three schlubs accompanying them on keys, bass and drums whose names I could care less about. You couldn't really hear the keys at all, to tell you the truth. The bassist and the drummer were competent, but nothing special at all. A few minor fuckups occurred during the set, but nothing too major.
King also sang all the songs I didn't recognize, which I guess are all new songs or songs off of their swan song "Exit the Dragon". The songs were FANTASTIC even if the sound wasn't. It wouldn't surprise me if they got a record together soon.....they looked like they were having a ton of fun onstage last night.
Setlist:
Ticket To LA
Positive Bleeding
The Candidate
(new/exit song)
Erica Kane
Bottle of Fur
(new/exit song)
Sister Havana
(new/exit song)
What's This Generation Coming To?
(Now That's) The Barclords
One final note....I was happy they avoided the Neil Diamond cover...it didn't seem appropriate and it's not their song. Their original material deserved the spotlight more anyway.
The Pixies took the stage just before 9pm. I was a little worried about the sound because U.R.G.E. had sounded so unbelievably bad. However, when the first measures of Bone Machine's crunching tagline were delivered, all fears were quashed and I realized I was indeed seeing something totally spectacular. Words cannot describe how big into this band I was in high school, but somewhere in between the bittersweet memory that my high school sweetheart and I shared this band together and the knowledge that I was never likely to see this band live, I had subconsciously sublimated my love for them. Oh, brother, did a lot come flooding out once I realized I was hearing nearly all of Surfer Rosa performed live by the entity that had composed those songs. The experience, to be sure, was completely overwhelming in a way that cannot be described.
The band sounded great, and they were mixed virtually identically to Surfer Rosa, a pleasant surprise to be sure. Drums were squarely in front, with Santiago's guitar just piercing the underside and occasionally riding the forefront and then Francis and Deal filling out what was left. I couldn't believe the things Charles was able to do with his voice. My friend Mike was reciting to me all day that he was not going to sing along, that it would feel like he was a lame 30+ year old poseur, but by the time the second song "Gouge Away" ripped into its first euphoric chorus, he was in full shoutalong mode. Seeing a cynical, somewhat sarcastic compatriot completely melt like that so quickly....so willingly.... was what this experience was all about. For me, it was also about reclaiming a portion of my childhood I felt was stolen from me far too early.
Unofficial Setlist (from memory, I know it's not quite accurate...the middle is probably completely sequenced wrong):
Bone Machine
Gouge Away
In Heaven
Where is My Mind?
Crackity Jones
Nimrod's Son
Holiday Song
Something Against You
Broken Face
Wave of Mutilation
Mr. Grieves
Isla De Encanta
Break My Body
Monkey Gone To Heaven
River Euphrates
Caribou
Head On
U Mass
Hey
Dead (!!!!)
Cactus
No. 13 Baby
Debaser
Tame
Gigantic
Encore:
Here Comes Your Man
Vamos
Some setlist idiosyncracies....I haven't seen "Something Against You" "Dead" or "Holiday Song" played extensively on this tour, obviously they dropped a couple of songs to make room for them...."La La Love You" was not played and neither was "Winterlong" or "Planet of Sound" (or a single song from Bossanova!!!), which left a lot of fans wanting more. However, with such a dearth of material being played, everyone was just completely sated at the end of the rollercoaster 80 minute set. I don't think I'm leaving out any songs....I could be, who knows. 27 songs is plenty, especially because they almost completely focused on their first three albums. And yes, I would've loved to have heard my favorites from Bossanova or Trompe Le Monde, or even "Tony's Theme"....but when I reached that moment in the holy trinity of "Debaser" "Tame" and "Gigantic"....I could've sworn I had actually died earlier in the evening and somehow bargained my way into heaven.
After seeing Brian Wilson's SMiLE show and following it immediately with the most incredible performance by the Wrens I had ever seen.....I thought nothing could top that this year. The Pixies might have just done that all by themselves.
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