The Pixies stun at London comeback gig

I don’t envy Kim Shattuck. She arguably has the hardest gig in contemporary rock.

A former member of obscure underground bands The Pandoras, The Muffs and The Beards. Shattuck boasts some backing vocal work for NOFX and Bowling For Soup on her resumé. When it was announced that she was filling the bassist shoes for the justifiably adored Kim Deal, she and her bandmates attracted a disproportionate amount of suspicion, and even some scorn, from some blinkered so-called Pixies ‘fans’.

Well, big Deal. On her first official European live engagement at a warm-up show in the 1,500 capacity Brixton Electric, Shattuck looks, plays and sings the part almost to perfection. Kim Deal used to smile a nod like a woman possessed and there's absolutely no denying the Breeders headgirl's brilliance, but the new Kim has her own signature stage style and manically bobs her blonde head.

Pixies have a rich history of playing monumental shows in the English capital. In Covent Garden’s Mean Fiddler in 1988, they performed a eulogised to the heavens show with Throwing Muses that in proper Velvet Underground-style went down in London gig lore as blowing the minds and inspiring Radiohead, Blur and PJ Harvey to variously ply their separate stunning trades.

The first surprise of the night is opening with a double whammy of cover versions; ‘Big New Prinz’ by The Fall and a ferocious ‘Head On’ by The Jesus & Mary Chain, which of course, they tackled on Trompe Le Monde and received the ultimate compliment from the Reid brothers themselves.

‘Wave Of Mutilation’ is the first meaty classic in a twenty-eight song set-list generously peppered with them - from the primal spine-tingling yelps of ‘Levitate Me’, ‘Ed Is Dead’ and ‘I’ve Been Tired’ from Come On Pilgrim to the futuristic sci-fi surf rock of ‘Planet Of Sound’. Comeback single 'Bagboy' sounds colossal. The new EP is played in its entirety and sounds far superior in a live setting. Black Francis and chums also chip in two new songs that suggest their next studio foray could be even better.

Far too much fuss has been made of the personnel change. The truth is that Pixies remain one of the finest live bands on planet earth. If you’ve been lucky enough to secure a ticket for the Olympia next month, Christmas is coming early.

Pixies play the Olympia, Dublin on November 18 and 19 (sold-out)

SET LIST

1. Big New Prinz (The Fall cover)

2. Head On (The Jesus & Mary Chain cover)

3.Wave of Mutilation

4. Levitate Me

5. Another Toe in the Ocean

6. Velouria

7. Ed Is Dead

8. Hey

9. Indie Cindy

10. Havalina

11. Gouge Away

12. What Goes Boom

13. I've Been Tired

14. Bagboy

15. Ana

16. Magdalena 318 (New song)

17. Greens and Blues (New song)

18. Caribou

19. Distance Equals Rate Times Time

20. River Euphrates

21. Brick Is Red

22.Subbacultcha

23. In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)

24. Andro Queen

25. Where Is My Mind?

26. Planet of Sound

Encore:

27. Monkey Gone to Heaven

28. Vamos