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October 03, 2005

Rock on, old man.

So I somehow ended up seeing the Pixies half of Saturday night's Across the Narrows festivities. As someone who kind of hates the Pixies, there wasn't much fun to be had looking at those elderly uggos lounge-ify a bunch of songs I didn't really like to begin with (I realize that I'm in the minority here, and I'll take all comers in the comments).

But there really wasn't any chance that the sta-puff marshmallow band could've looked even remotely impressive playing, as they did, after the older, tighter, more energetic Gang of Four. I mean, holy crap. Those guys have to be in their mid-50s, and they rocked like nervous punk teenagers (in a good way). Jon King definitely did some weirdo rave dancing at a couple of spots, but even that didn't take anything away from the ferocity they projected. It's a small miracle, but with the exception of a slightly questionable bass sound, GoF's music hasn't aged a day since 1977.

Built to Spill were also great. Although, with no new record in four years, and nothing on the horizon, it was almost depressing to see them trot out "the hits," like they were Toto playing "Rosanna" at a state fair. Obviously "Carry the Zero" is an anthem of many of our younger days, and a much better song than "Rosanna," but you get my meaning. At the absolute least, they're doing what they do best, and they do it note-perfect.

It's odd that, of all of the three headliners at Keyspan Park on Saturday, none of them were performing new material. I won't speculate as to why that should be the case, but I will say that it was a remarkably successful evening of music--except for the Pixies, who still suck.

Posted by matt at October 3, 2005 08:42 AM

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