Top 25 Albums of 2009

#1 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz

Yes, I love Karen O and I'm not afraid to admit it.

#2 Gallows – Grey Britain

"I keep a fresh razor blade in the sole of my shoes. It helps when I get stuck thinking of you."

#3 Converge – Axe To Fall

They just keep getting better and better.

#4 Heartless Bastards – The Mountain

The record I wanted Lucero to write this year....if Lucero had a female singer who was a much better vocalist than Ben Nichols.

#5 The Devin Townsend Project – Addicted!

Talk about appropriately named (if it was named Addictive! instead).

#6 Slayer – World Painted Blood

SLAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#7 Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day

Don't you love it when you accidentally stumble on a band and they wind up being a new favorite?

#8 Mastodon – Crack The Skye

Time Magazine may have given this record backhanded compliments, but even the mainstream now understands the genius of this band.

#9 The Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love

Damn you Brit pop, you've done it again.

#10 Goes Cube – Another Day Has Passed

Take some Helmet and Quicksand, punk it up, then thrash it up and call it Goes Cube.

#11 U2 – No Line On The Horizon

Yes, the first single sucked, but the rest of the album sure as hell didn't.

#12 Coalesce – Ox

Mama said knock you out.

#13 Kreator – Hordes of Chaos

Old school thrash bands are supposed to retire or really fail in the quality control department as years go on. Kreator did not get that memo.

#14 The Company Band – s/t

The best Clutch record since Pure Rock Fury.

#15 City Of Ships – Look What God Did To Us

God gave us this record.

#16 White Lies – To Lose My Life

Thanks for taking over for The Killers since they now suck.

#17 Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another

"Lapsed Catholics are the worst."

#18 Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue

This record was supposed to fail, but it just definitively proved that Jerry Cantrell is/was the brains behind AIC.

#19 Katatonia – Night Is The New Day

I used to refer to this kind of music as "dork metal", but now I can't because I finally get it.

#20 Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg

And Wolfmother gives the sophomore slump the middle finger.

#21 Tombs – Winter Hours

The New York metal renaissance continues...

#22 Pelican – What We All Come To Need

Some people don't get this band. I'm not one of those people.

#23 A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head

Sure they are ripping Jesus And Mary Chain off, but at least they are doing it well.

#24 Brand New – Daisy

Aren't these guys supposed to be generic pop punk/screamo crap?

#25 Telekinesis – Telekinesis!

I'm supposed to hate this kind of indie rock. Supposed to.

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):

1. Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Agorapocalypse
2. Animals As Leaders – s/t
3. Baroness – The Blue Album
4. Brutal Truth – Evolution Through Revolution
5. Burnt By The Sun – Heart Of Darkness
6. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
7. Celeste – Misanthrope(s)
8. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
9. Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print (A Collection Of Oddities and Rarities 2003 – 2008)
10. Dysrhythmia – Psychic Maps
11. Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)
12. L’Homme Puma - On Remplace Les Yeux Cassés
13. Howl – s/t EP (can’t wait for the full length!)
14. If These Trees Could Talk – Above The Earth, Below The Sky
15. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit – s/t
16. Jay–Z – The Blueprint 3
17. Jesu – Infinity / Opiate Sun
18. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
19. Noisettes – Wild Young Heart
20. Revocation – Existence Is Futile
21. Russian Circles – Geneva
22. Scale The Summit – Carving Desert Canyons
23. Skeletonwitch – Breathing The Fire
24. Wolves In The Throne Room – Black Cascade

My Ten Favorite "Singles" of 2009

#1 Jay-Z - "Empire State of Mind"

If you live in the New York City area, used to live there, dreamed of living there or just visited once and don't like this song, then something is seriously wrong with you.

#2 Matt & Kim - "Daylight"

I hate that I love a song by this goofy guy/girl duo from Hipster Heaven (Brooklyn), but a catchy song is a catchy song. And I'll be damned if the album isn't half bad either.

#3 Lions - "Girl From The North Country"

I wrote a post about this song back in September and am still listening to it non-stop. This is a perfect example of how to cover a song by a legendary artist (in this case Bob Dylan).

#4 Rammstein - "Pussy"

Sure the video was absolutely outrageous, but there is no denying that even with a shocking X-rated NSFW video and silly lyrics, this song will be stuck in your head for days.

#5 Foo Fighters – "Word Forward"

Under the name Foo Fighters, can Dave Grohl write a bad song?

#6 Flight of the Conchords - "Hurt Feelings"

Love the HBO show, but even without the visual elements, the songs stand up on their own.

#7 Foo Fighters – "Wheels"

In an earlier post I lamented about the fact that the Foo Fighters have never done a b-sides collection, but fortunately the two new songs from their greatest hits collection are available as single song purchases, so hardcore fans won't have so search too hard for them.

#8 Fireman - "Sing The Changes"

I've always been a Stones over The Beatles kind of guy (and as long as we're comparing classic rock titans, Sabbath over Zeppelin too), but there is no denying that Paul McCartney is an amazing songwriter. This year's single for his Fireman project is further proof of this.

#9 Telekinesis - "Tokyo"

If you are interested, then I wrote a little more about this song here, but this is just indie-pop goodness.

#10 Mark Sultan - "Hold On"

Who is Mark Sultan you ask? Well, I have no frickin' clue, but one of his songs wound up on my iPod and I can't get enough of it.

R.I.P. Dimebag Darrell 1966-2004

There isn't really much to say that hasn't already been said about the untimely and tragic murder of Dimebag Darrell. Pantera's Cowboys From Hell, Vulgar Display Of Power and Far Beyond Driven were a huge part of the soundtrack of my youth and remain some of my favorite albums of all time. I feel blessed to have seen them perform live multiple times and not to brag (well, ok maybe a little bit), but was especially lucky to be afforded the opportunity to watch them from the side of the stage on a couple Ozzfest dates in 2000. I never actually got to meet Dime on that tour, but by all accounts he was nothing short of being the salt of the Earth. His murder on December 8, 2004 impacted the metal community with a force equal to that of John Lennon's senseless murder on popular music fans back in 1980 on the same exact day. May they both rest in peace and their music live on forever.

"Walk"



"The Art Of Shredding"



"Cemetery Gates"



"I'm Broken"



"5 Minutes Alone"



"This Love"

My Year In Live Music

People always comment to me that I go to "a lot of concerts", but the reality is that I only went to 45 shows this year. To some people that might be a lot, but considering there are 365 days in a year, I really didn't spend that much time at live concerts. Anyway, here is a list of what I saw:

1. Metallica w/ Machine Head 1/31 Prudential Center Newark, NJ
2. Metallica w/ Machine Head 2/1 Prudential Center Newark, NJ
3. The Black Keys w/ The Heartless Bastards 2/7 Terminal 5 New York, NY
4. Lucero 2/8 Mercury Lounge New York, NY
5. Los Campesinos! 2/15 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
6. Jimmy Eat World 2/23 Terminal 5 New York, NY
7. Tapes ‘N Tapes 2/25 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
8. Jason Isbell 2/26 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
9. Scion Rock Fest 2/28 The Masquerade Atlanta, GA
10. Hall & Oates 3/2 Irving Plaza New York, NY
11. Kreator 4/8 Nokia Theatre New York, NY
12. Dredg/Torche 4/19 Highline Ballroom New York, NY
13. Russian Circles 4/27 Maxwell’s Hoboken, NJ
14. Melvins 5/15 Webster Hall New York, NY
15. Isis w/ Pelican and Tombs 6/2 Irving Plaza New York, NY
16. Jane’s Addiction w/ Nine Inch Nails 6/6 PNC Arts Center Holmdel, NJ
17. Patterson Hood and The Screwtopians 6/24 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
18. Dinosaur Jr. 6/25 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
19. Explosions In The Sky 6/30 Central Park Summerstage New York, NY
20. Frank Turner 7/9 DC’s Hoboken, NJ
21. Summer Slaughter Tour 7/20 Irving Plaza New York, NY
22. Paul McCartney 7/21 Citi Field New York, NY
23. Deer Tick 7/24 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
24. Torche 7/26 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
25. Green Day 7/27 Madison Square Garden New York, NY
26. Ratt w/ Extreme 7/28 Nokia Theatre Times Square New York, NY
27. AC/DC 7/31 Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ
28. The Bouncing Souls 8/20 Webster Hall New York, NY
29. Nine Inch Nails 8/25 Terminal 5 New York, NY
30. Kings Of Leon 9/12 Izod Center East Rutherford, NJ
31. U2 9/23 Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ
32. Sunny Day Real Estate 9/27 Terminal 5 New York, NY
33. Yeah Yeah Yeahs 9/29 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
34. Bruce Springsteen 9/30 Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ
35. Them Crooked Vultures 10/1 Stubb’s Austin, TX
36. Deer Tick 10/2 Emo’s Jr. Austin, TX
37. Austin City Limits Festival 10/2-4 Zilker Park Austin, TX
38. The Gaslight Anthem 10/15 Terminal 5 New York, NY
39. Mastodon/Converge 10/30 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY
40. The Black Dahlia Murder/Skeletonwitch/Toxic Holocaust/Trap Them 11/3 The Crazy Donkey Farmingdale, NY
41. Wolfmother/The Heartless Bastards 11/9 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
42. Metallica/Lamb Of God 11/14 Madison Square Garden New York, NY
43. Metallica/Lamb Of God/Volbeat 11/15 Madison Square Garden New York, NY
44. Pixies 11/23 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY
45. Pixies 11/24 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY

This Is What You Voted For

In the wake of President Obama's recent announcement that he plans to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, I've noticed a lot of my liberal leaning friends (and a lot of liberals in general) are up in arms. There have been accusations that Obama is acting no different from his predecessor and that the U.S. has no business fighting wars in Afghanistan. I like to remind them that is exactly what they voted for when they cast a ballot for Obama.

One of Obama's major platforms while campaigning for President was that he wanted the U.S. out of Iraq. At the same time, he did always say that he felt the U.S. needed to finish the job in Afghanistan. Somewhere along the line, a lot of his supporters started seeing Obama as a peace sign flashing hippie that was going to pull the U.S. military out of every foreign country they occupied. Many focused so strongly on the fact that he wanted out of Iraq that they completely ignored his constant reminders that he planned on being aggressive with Afghanistan. Now they are all crying foul. And I just like to remind them that this is exactly what they (and I) voted for.

Personally, I don't believe the U.S. will leave Afghanistan until Bin Laden's head is on a stake or that intelligence can confirm that he has died of natural causes. But, even with the head of the snake removed, there will still be a push to make sure his successors are eliminated. With the tragedy of 9/11 weighing heavily on our collective minds still and for years to come, I believe no President, regardless of political affiliation, is going to want to stop going after Al Queda on their home turf of Afghanistan until there is concrete evidence they have been defeated or at least had their resources so badly depleted that they cannot be a threat for the foreseeable future. So, instead of bitching and moaning that Obama "lied" or is committing some great injustice by doing EXACTLY what he said he was going to do, let's just hope that we really do get the job done in the 3 year time frame he has predicted.

Insert Witty Tiger Woods "Driver" Joke Here

The past three days I've been hunkered down in my apartment trying to beat a winter cold into submission with lots of hot tea and Sudafed before the holiday party season commences this weekend. I'll admit to being a total couch potato on Monday and plowing through all the shows on my DVR, but yesterday and today I've kept the TV off for the most part and have focused on listening to recently acquired remastered albums by Judas Priest (7 total), Kiss (4 total) and Journey (2 total) along with a few other older releases by Lou Reed, Into Another and Bathory as well as spinning some 2009 releases that I wanted to hear again from the likes of A.F.I., Future Of The Left, The Noisettes, Brand New, Them Crooked Vultures, Wolfmother and Lucero. While listening to music is of course a delightful endeavor (in most cases), I did find the need to take time to multi-task while listening to it and do things like online shopping for Christmas gifts, write blogs and partake in one of my favorite hobbies: keeping up on current events.

[I'm going to apologize for the lack of eloquence in this rant in advance as I am a bit loopy from a combination of Sudafed and lack of sleep, but hopefully my point will come across somewhat coherently.] Unless you have been living under a rock the past few days, then you, like the rest of the world, are well aware of the fact that professional golfer Tiger Woods had a car accident a few days ago which has subsequently led to rumors of him having cheated on his wife. I understand that someone as well known as Tiger Woods getting in a very suspect looking car accident and then details emerging that perhaps it was because he was attempting to get away from his nine iron wielding wife are going to pique the public's curiosity, but the attention the media is giving it is well beyond the point of good taste. Honestly, I shouldn't be shocked considering these are the same folks that felt Britney Spears shaving her head was headline worthy, but I simply cannot help but continue to be disgusted by the fact that celebrity gossip that was once relegated to more appropriate media channels like TMZ, OK!, US Weekly, The National Enquirer, etc., etc. is now considered essential coverage by the major news outlets.

I'll pick on CNN because they are one of the worst offenders. Here is their current headline listing:

Latest news

• Tiger Woods: I let my family down
• N.Y. Senate kills same-sex marriage bill
• Ohio suspect's prior home searched
• Afghan exit plan faces tough questions
• Pakistan key in U.S. Afghan policy
• New charges for alleged Ft. Hood killer
• Group grilled on mammogram advice
• Cafferty: Scientists honest on climate?
• Facebook adds privacy features
• Ticker: Ex-Bush aide takes on Obama
• Model didn't fear plastic surgery
• Susan Boyle album has huge No. 1 debut
• Meredith Baxter: Yes, I'm gay
• Hulk's young blonde sporting rock

Granted, there are some interesting and relevant news stories listed here, but honestly I do not come to CNN to read about who Hulk Hogan is banging or revelations that the mom from Family Ties is gay or that Facebook has added new privacy features. And for foooooook's sake...Susan Boyle? Really? I mean for the love of all that is holy, they couldn't find something more NEWSWORTHY to write about? A human interest story about a non-celebrity (although, I guess arguably Susan Boyle could fall under this category)? A fire department getting a kitten out of a tree? Something? Anything?

Tiger Woods cheated on his wife. People are outraged. You know why? Because people are stupid. As I type this, do you know how many married men and women are out there right now schtupping someone that isn't their spouse? More than any of us could probably guess. I'm not condoning cheating at all, but a celebrity stepping out on their spouse is not more important than the fact that Obama is about to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan or that the New York state Senate killed a bill today that would have legalized same-sex marriage in the state or that some psychopath in Cleveland killed 11 women and buried them in his yard. And spare me the role model argument...they are people too and therefore imperfect.

It is easy to solely blame the media for this, but the fact of the matter is that the public shares in the blame because they eat it up and keep the cycle rolling. As much as it pains me to say it, I do have to applaud Fox News for taking a stand against our celebrity obsessed culture and for the most part keeping their headlines to harder news. Of course they do still cover the celebrity stuff because that is what the sheep demand, but at least they don't make it front and center like the majority of their peers.

Poor Tiger Woods had sex with a really hot cocktail waitress and now his really hot model wife is mad at him and we all want to watch. How about we all f off and leave them alone while he and his wife try to explain to their kid (yes, they have more than one, but the baby is obviously too young to know what is going on) what is happening and let them work this out on their own. We would all want the same privacy if our personal lives were in turmoil. Nobody likes someone meddling in their business now do they?

Anyway, didn't I say something about Judas Priest, Kiss and Journey earlier?

Judas Priest "Devil's Child"



Journey "Any Way You Want It"



Kiss "I Love It Loud"

List Mania (Updated)

I had a couple late additions to the list of albums that came out in 2009 that I am the proud (in some cases) owner of. From the below list, my Top 25 for 2009 will emerge in the next two weeks or so. The two people who read this blog are probably dying of anticipation.

1. AFI – Crash Love
2. Against Me! – The Original Cowboy
3. Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Agorapocalypse
4. Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
5. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Century Of Self
6. Animals As Leaders – s/t
7. Baroness – The Blue Album
8. Brendan Benson – My Old, Familiar Friend
9. Between The Buried And Me – The Great Misdirect
10. The Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
11. Billy Talent – Billy Talent III
12. Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
13. Brand New – Daisy
14. Brutal Truth – Evolution Through Revolution
15. Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy
16. Burnt By The Sun – Heart Of Darkness
17. Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plague
18. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
19. Celeste – Misanthrope(s)
20. Chairlift – Does You Inspire You
21. City Of Ships – Look What God Did To Us
22. Clutch – Strange Cousins From The West
23. Coalesce – Ox
24. Coalesce – OX EP
25. The Company Band – s/t
26. Converge – Axe To Fall
27. Crooked Fingers – Forfeit/Fortune
28. Dead Weather – Horehound
29. Dear Hunter – Act III: Life And Death
30. Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day
31. The Devin Townsend Project – Addicted
32. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
33. Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
34. Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print (A Collection Of Oddities and Rarities 2003 – 2008)
35. Dysrhythmia – Psychic Maps
36. Steve Earle – Townes
37. Eminem – Relapse
38. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
39. Flight Of The Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
40. Future Of The Left – Travels With Myself And Another
41. Gallows – Grey Britain
42. Goes Cube – Another Day Has Passed
43. Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
44. Greymachine – Disconnected
45. PJ Harvey – A Woman A Man Walked By
46. Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
47. Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know
48. Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)
49. L’Homme Puma - On Remplace Les Yeux Cassés
50. Howl – Howl
51. Katatonia – Night Is The New Day
52. If These Trees Could Talk – Above The Earth, Below The Sky
53. Iron Age – The Sleeping Eye
54. Isis – Wavering Radiant
55. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit – s/t
56. Jay–Z – The Blueprint 3
57. Jesu – Infinity
58. Jesu – Opiate Sun
59. Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage
60. Kreator – Hordes of Chaos
61. Kylesa – Static Tensions
62. Lamb Of God – Wrath
63. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
64. The Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing
65. Marcy Playground – Leaving Wonderland…In A Fit Of Rage
66. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
67. Matt and Kim – Grand
68. Megadeth – Endgame
69. Mono – Hymn To The Immortal Wind
70. Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem
71. Muse – The Resistance
72. MUTEMATH – Armistice
73. Napalm Death – Time Waits For No Slave
74. NOFX – Coaster
75. Noisettes – Wild Young Heart
76. Obscura – Cosmogenesis
77. Pelican – Ephemeral
78. Pelican – What We All Come To Need
79. A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
80. Poison The Well – The Tropic Rot
81. Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist
82. Prodigy – Invaders Must Die
83. Revocation – Existence Is Futile
84. Russian Circles – Geneva
85. Scale The Summit – Carving Desert Canyons
86. Shadows Fall – Retribution
87. Shrinebuilder – s/t
88. Silversun Pickups – Swoon
89. Skeletonwitch – Breathing The Fire
90. Slayer – World Painted Blood
91. Sonic Youth – The Eternal
92. Telekinesis – Telekinesis!
93. Them Crooked Vultures – s/t
94. Tombs – Winter Hours
95. U2 – No Line On The Horizon
96. Weezer – Raditude
97. Where The Wild Things Are – Soundtrack (Karen O. and The Kids)
98. White Lies – To Lose My Life
99. Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg
100. Wolves In The Throne Room – Black Cascade
101. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz

Them Crooked Disappointments

I have been very excited about Them Crooked Vultures since I first heard about this collaboration between rock greats Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin). After a few months of waiting for a release date for the album to be announced and getting to see the band play live not once, but twice, the finished product has been released and I've gotten the opportunity to sit with it from beginning to end. All I have to say is that I wish the excitement I felt after seeing them live had been translated into the recorded work. Considering the collective resume of the band members, this album is definitely a disappointment.

The first 8 tracks are solid. Nothing groundbreaking, but certainly a fun listen. After that, the album loses steam for the remaining 5 tracks. The problem is that having roughly 38% of your album be a snoozefest ultimately drags down the entire thing. The biggest issue is really Josh Homme. Having him take sole responsibility for the lead vocals on this album ultimately winds up being the fatal flaw. The last two Queens of the Stone Age albums (Lullabies To Paralyze and Era Vulgaris ) have been fairly dramatic drop offs from the genius that was their first three albums and that is due in large part to the departure of Nick Oliveri from the band. Oliveri was the "punk rock" or "balls" of the band and while he didn't sing a ton of songs, having his vocals break up the songs on the second and third albums every once in a while was a key component to them being so damn good (the first album is great simply because it is much heavier than the rest of their material). If Dave Grohl had sang maybe 3 or 4 songs on Them Crooked Vultures debut, then I think that would have been a significant influence in increasing the quality of the record. With Homme handling all the vocals though (I guess Grohl wanted to stick behind the drum kit for this one), the album ultimately winds up sounding like a continuation of the more recent (and lackluster) Queens of the Stone Age material. The playing is great (as would be expected from these guys), but there is an X factor missing from the overall sound that makes this album, at best, simply OK.

On the bright side, at least they didn't totally shit the bed like Weezer did on this year's absolute train wreck of an album Raditude.

Rockin' Out: Pixies @ Hammerstein Ballroom 11/23 & 11/24

Once again, more terrible Blackberry camera pictures, but at least one or two of these wound up looking sort of "artistic" (using that term very loosely) because of the funky lighting.

The Pixies rolled into New York City on Monday November 23rd to play the first of four gigs at Hammerstein Ballroom. I had tickets for both Monday and Tuesday nights' shows (the 3rd and 4th would both be played on Wednesday night...an early show and a late show) and was looking forward to great sets both nights as I have seen them a few times since they first started doing "reunion" tours in 2004 and they are awesome live. The catch about this tour was that they are touring on the 20th Anniversary of their album Doolittle and would be playing that album in its entirety along with select b-sides from that era at each show. Not a big deal as Doolittle is great from front to back and I assumed the Pixies would play at least another hour's worth of songs from the rest of their catalog to make for a full 2 hour set. Unfortunately, my assumption was wrong.

I am very familiar with the four studio albums by the Pixies, but admit to not being as studied on their B-Sides collection(s). On both nights the band opened with four b-sides and then went into playing Doolittle from beginning to end. The b-sides were cool, but I will admit to not recognizing any of them. At one point on Monday night, the bassist Kim Deal asked if anyone planned on coming Tuesday night and was met with a decent amount of cheers before saying something along the lines of "Well, you are going to get the same exact set tomorrow night!" Well, she was somewhat telling the truth. Monday and Tuesday were identical sets up until the encores. For the encores, Monday night we got "Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)" and "Into The White" (both b-sides), "Isla De Encanta" and "Nimrod's Son" (both from the Come On Pilgrim EP) and "Where Is My Mind?" and (one of my top three favorite Pixies songs) "Gigantic" (both from the excellent Surfer Rosa). Tuesday night we got "Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)" and "Into The White" again, followed by "Broken Face" (from Surfer Rosa), "Caribou" and "Ed Is Dead" (from the Come On Pilgrim EP) and "Planet Of Sound" (from Trompe Le Monde).

I've never met a Pixies song I didn't like, but I have to say these sets left me wanting. Each night was around 90 minutes of playing and I (along with the rest of the crowd) would have loved at least another 30 minutes of songs from their other three studio albums. Of the two nights, Monday had the better encore set list, but that was somewhat dampened by a very annoying and aggro crowd in attendance that evening. A fight complete with punching, shoving and beer throwing broke out during the song "Tame" (the second song on Doolittle) and there was a general hostile and stand off-ish vibe in the air that night. Even hanging towards the back to get away from the crowd proved an unappealing option because it was a bunch of drunks talking through the entire set and making it very difficult to hear the band (the irony of yelling and screaming about how much you love a band while completely ignoring them playing on a stage in front of you was apparently lost on these people). Tuesday night's vibe was by and far much more pleasant and it was actually fairly easy to maneuver to and from the bar through the crowd during the band's set.

One other note, the band did have a cool light show and interesting movie-like snippets playing on the screens behind the stage which always enhances the live experience when seeing a band in a larger venue.

"Debaser"



"In Heaven (The Lady In The Radiator Song) / Gigantic"



"Hey"