I’d seen Bombay Bicycle Club at the Haiti Benefit Concert at the Roundhouse. Before this gig, I hadn’t really listened to Bombay but despite this I really enjoyed their short set. I tried desperately to get tickets for one of their acoustic sets during the summer but had been unable to. Unfortunately, this gig was their return to electric so I’m still waiting to hear them play acoustically.
I said at the time of the Haiti benefit that ‘They seem like geeky kids pretending to be rock stars’. This was part of their appeal. There’s an innocence in the lead singer’s voice that he brings to their songs. Tonight re-electrifyed and at a bigger venue, the innocence of my first encounter didn’t come across and for me tonight’s gig wasn’t a patch on the Haiti gig, despite being longer and with a more appreciative crowd. I was still a decent gig. But some of the sparkle was missing.
Click on the photo for more photos from this gig.
The Pixies didn’t ‘do anything’ for me when I first heard them. At some point around 2000 I gave them a proper listen and discovered that I had been missing out on an excellent band. So I was happy to see them reform to give me a chance to see them live. Last year I saw the Pixies at Brixton Academy. Although the gig was very enjoyable, it wasn’t the longest set.
Tonight’s gig came out of the blue when a mysterious email arrived claiming to be from the Pixies offering tickets to a gig at Troxy, a venue I’d never heard of. The gig was organised by the Pixies as a ‘thank you’ to fans the set list was built-up from email suggestions from fans. So the set list was varied and very good, managing to cover most of my favourites.
Unlike last year’s short gig. There was no short changing this time and the excellent set list meant there were no weak links. In fact the band seemed to enjoying themselves much more than at Brixton (I saw them on the fifth and final night at Brixton) which I think only added to the crowds enjoyment. A great gig.
Pixies on flickr