A Big Big Love

Pixies @ Hammerstein Ballroom 12/13/2004

Is She Weird? / Something Against You / …. / Bone Machine / Cactus / I Bleed / Caribou / No. 13 Baby / Broken Face / U-Mass / Mr. Grieves / Dead / Hey / Velouria / Ed Is Dead / Gouge Away / Wave Of Mutilation / Monkey Gone To Heaven / Crackity Jones / Isla De Encanta / Tame / In Heaven / Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf) / Here Comes Your Man / The Holiday Song / Nimrod’s Son / Vamos / Where Is My Mind? // Debaser / Gigantic

There’s not a lot to say, actually. They were the Pixies, and it was exactly as good as I’d always hoped it would be. The set was just about perfect; the only song in their current rotation that I had hoped for and was not played was “Planet Of Sound.” But you know, I got to see them play “Is She Weird?” and “I Bleed,” so I can’t possibly complain. I was anticipating a pretty wild crowd, but the audience was actually fairly sedate. Most people were very enthusiastic, but reservedly so. There were a few people around me who seemed strangely poker-faced and emotionless, which I can’t possibly comprehend. How do you not at least crack a smile when the Pixies are right in front of you playing “Here Comes Your Man”? This one guy near me seemed almost as if he was there under duress.

In case you were wondering, the elipses in the setlist indicate the band leaving the stage for a few minutes because the monitors were not set up properly.

Tom Scharpling & Jon Wurster “Philly Boy Roy’s ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas'” – Best Show On WFMU regular caller Philly Boy Roy Ziegler checks in with Tom on Christmas Eve and treats him to his own “Philly-style” version of ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas. It’s a Ziegler family tradition, though the names change every year because there’s always a new superstar in Philadelphia, unlike New York and New Jersey. (Click here to visit the official Scharpling & Wurster site or here for the Best Show On WFMU site.