If the reunited Pixies were a person, they would’ve turned legal drinking age this April (with the original only making it to the ripe age of seven). However, for all of those latter-era Gen Xers who grew up just a little too young to catch them the first time around (or had to settle for seeing them open an arena for U2) and Millennials who didn’t discover them until all their favorite indie rockers of the late ‘90s started namedropping them in interviews, getting to see three of the four original Pixies churn out a large handful of songs that would make their desert island playlists still proves for a superlative-making concert. And none of us are complaining that the legendary alternative rockers’ summer treks seem to have become an annual thing.
Summer of 2023 saw Pixies headlining a jaunt where they were preceded by post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand and Sub Pop-signed, neo-grunge royalty Bully, whose show at The Met Philly proved to be the package tour of the year. And last summer Black Francis, David Lovering, and Joey Santiago embarked on a double-headlining shed tour with Modest Mouse that was certainly the coolest thing the Mann Center saw all summer. And this summer the band are back, with their most enticing tour in quite some time.
The group’s June/July run – opened by hometown heroes Kurt Vile & the Violators – has the band playing two nights in a row at the most intimate clubs and theatres they’ve played in years. Night One features LPs #3 and 4 – 1990’s Bossanova and 1991’s Trompe le Monde – in their entirety, while Night Two features a set of classics from across Pixies’ entire catalogue (which has been featuring the vast majority of 1989 sophomore full-length Doolittle, in addition to a handful of tracks from last year’s The Night the Zombies Came, which are making their live debuts in each city).
Pixies will be returning to The Fillmore Philadelphia on July 22nd and 23rd to play the bulk of the seminal first five releases that made them legends. Get your tickets below while you still can, listen for a Pixies classic on the July edition of Philthy Radio (7/18 from 9-11pm ET on Y-Not Radio), and read my January 2014 chat with Pixies drummer David Lovering, shortly after the reunited band began releasing new music and just prior to the group’s first-ever shows at World Café Live and Electric Factory.
*Get your tickets to 7/22 here.
**Get your tickets to 7/23 here.
