No talk or delay. Pixies brought the essence of true rock to Fora Karlín
The still active legends of alternative rock Pixies returned to Prague after four years. A very decently filled Forum Karlín awaited them, and the American form repaid them with a dense reminder of the era ruled by rock music shaved down to its function. They played without frills, without a big show, but great.
Live: Pixies
place: Forum Karlín, Prague
date: August 25, 2022
Support, support: Klangstof
set list: Cecilia Ann (The Surftones cover), St. Nazaire, Wave of Mutilation, Debaser, Break My Body, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Human Crime, Something Against You, Isla de Encanta, Cactus, Caribou, Planet of Sound, Vault of Heaven, Who’s More Sorry Now?, Lord Se Today returned, The Moon Is Shining, Peel Off, My Gun Goes, Dead, I Was Tired, Head Forward (Jesus and Mary Chain Cover), Gigantic, I Bleed, Hey, Mr. Grieves, Crackity Jones, Bone Machine, Velouria, Vamos, Nimrod’s Son, The Holiday Song, Nimrod’s Son (sequel, alternate version), Death Horizon, Here Comes Your Man, All the Saints, Ana, Wave of Mutilation, (UK Surf) , Where Is My Mind?, Winterlong (Neil Young cover)
© Honza Pruša
On Thursday, August 25, there was plenty to choose from in Prague. Slavia was playing for promotion, Sabaton stormed the O2 arena, and a less fashion-specific audience headed to Karlín. You won’t find out information about the result of stapled here, your impressions from meeting of friends of military history and metal summed up colleague Trávníček, one of the key groups of American rock alternative and his Prague one remains a show without a show. Klangstof performed as front runners. The Dutch are about to release their third album, and at that time the roughly half-filled hall welcomed them with quite a lot of cheers. Devoted fans got what they asked for, their half-hour set just rustled past the others and couldn’t drown out the din of conversation in the back of the hall. A bit of Radiohead melancholy, hints of vocal harmonies à la Fleet Foxes and mainly a rather dull and soporific tempo, which was only occasionally awakened by more dynamic passages.
© Honza Pruša
Pixies managed to create an almost club atmosphere with everything in the Karlín Forum. And I believe that the musicians on the stage did not practically speak towards the publication. Frontman Black Francis limited himself to just a few lapidary words, bassist Paz Lenchantin waved a few times, the final message of two members, guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer David Lovering, was not expressed until after the farewell. The lack of communication, or communication exclusively through music, had a good reason. Thanks to practically zero delays, the Pixies were able to fit in a full 39 songs in just under two hours of playing time – so that, this is rock with punk directness, no progrock compositions. And that is already an admirable feat. There were hits “Caribou” and “Where Is My Mind”, deep cuts like “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Goes To Heaven”, a couple of covers and fresh new from the album “Doggerel” which will be released at the end of September. As for the bloated setlist, there is nothing left but to express satisfaction. Everything that could was heard, nothing really significant was missing. And nothing was lacking in the commitment and performance of the entire band.
© Honza Pruša
However, you can play with a lousy sound. In some places, the unnecessarily pulled guitars blurred the singing into incomprehensibility, and more than once both guitarists got into a fight. It’s a shame, because Pixies’ work mixes punk and surf rock, and when the sustaining guitar beats drown in vagueness, it’s a bit of a shame and the music loses some of its charm. The same can be said in the case of practically unintelligible vocals. But why criticize the bad sound when it was exactly the concert that had the essence of rock in it? No pageantry, no gestures, no show. The Pixies made do with austere worlds and mainly music. In this respect, their concert was very old-worldly honest. And that energy is simply not matched by anyone or anything.