As dedicated as I am to seeing the legends of rock in their rare live appearances, such concerts can have mixed results. Sometimes a artist will prove their status as an icon, as in the case of Debbie Harry. Others will prove their status as an inanimate object,  as Lou Reed did. And others still will show that they are not yet qualified to be “legends,” just living, breathing rock stars who show that their old music can still be relevant today.

My experience with Frank Black and The Pixies is limited, as my familiarity with the band ends with the handful of singles – “Here Comes Your Man,” etc — that are familiar to any veterans of alternative radio or indie dance nights. So my challenge at the band’s sold out show at DC’s DAR Constitution Hall arena was not to determine if the Pixies still had it, but to see if what they had lived up to the years and years of hype I’ve weathered without actually buying one of their damn CDs.

The short answer is that The Pixies are friggin’ awesome and I wish I knew more of their songs coming into the show. The band began by playing their album “Doolittle” front to back, including all its attendant b-sides. Standouts like “Debaser” actually carried a much greater live punch  than they did on the album, and my surprise at this shows just how accustomed I’ve become to bands whose live shows depend more on pushing buttons or twiddling knobs than on actual members playing instruments.

Though much of the bands longevity is due to frontman Frank Black’s singing voice – which was so raw and hoarse to begin with that the ravages of time would need to work backwards to ruin it – the undisputed star of the night was Kim Deal. The bassist and co-founder of The Breeders (and every other 90s band) spent the show bantering with the audience and beaming like a child at the dozens of choruses of “Kim, I love you!” from audience members of every sex.

They performed three encores after the Doolittle set, one of which included a show-stopping “Gigantic” from Ms. Deal that will probably contribute to any city-wide feelings of good will anyone in DC might pick up on the metro or parkway today.

Setlist for the show is as follows:

Dancing the Manta Ray
Weird At My School
Bailey’s Walk
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge

Encore:

Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into the White

Encore 2:

Where Is My Mind?
Gigantic
Caribou

Encore 3:
Nimrod’s Son

Source: setlist.fm