nic at night

Even after seeing the Pixies six months ago in town, we gladly planned to trek back out to Merriweather to see them all over again up there. Since Dana had to be out of town, I went with a friend, renting a car in Virginia and making the drive after picking her up from work. This time, we arrived early, and had time to get some food and find our seats (again in the pavilion) before both the rain and the opening bands started. It was the kind of night when the rain, mostly pretty light, was welcome, as it cooled everything down and provided a mellow backdrop to just hanging out and waiting for the main set.

What can I say about the Pixies? They rocked out and it was a great show. The energy was high; not quite the same mania of the December show (even on their second night in town, the hall was just vibrating with the excitement of seeing them together on stage again) but still enough to keep everyone out of their seats the whole time. I didn't allocate much brain space to remembering the set list, as I planned to order the concert cd for Dana. The best moment of the show was the interruption by a roadie to tell the band (and, by extension, us) that Surfer Rosa had just gone gold, and to present each of them with their little framed/mounted plaque/certificate thingies to commemorate the event. I didn't think to get photos, but a couple are available on their tour blog. The whole thing was pretty freakin neat, actually.

My only complaint, and it's more a regret than a complaint, was that I couldn't see much of Kim. As in December, she spent much of the show back by the drums just playing away, and she and he both were completely blocked from view by the bank of speakers on our side of the stage. Moreso than usual, then, the songs with her on vocals were my favorites, as she stepped forward to her mic and into view. And, no, I didn't scream out "we love you, Kim!" although I'm sure some people were.