Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:

Some of us never got to see them the first time around and are happy for the chance to.

Some of us saw them the first time around--and they sucked. I saw the Pixies at Pearl Street in Northampton in '89 or '90. I didn't really wanna go, even though I liked 'Surfer Rosa,' because tickets were fifteen dollars, about three times more than I was accustomed to paying back then. I should've went with my gut feeling because the Pixies played for 45 MINUTES, never broke a sweat, and obviously couldn't wait to get off that stage. Maybe they had their reasons, but they had enough energy to run off with all of our fucking money. If you ask me, they're always been greedy bastards. They charged too much then, and they're doing the same thing now. I'd rather listen to Devo anyway.

I just happened upon this post. I lived in NoHo during the summer of 1989 and remember wanting badly to go to this very same show, but not being able to because it was either sold out or 21+, I can't remember which. For some reason I wandered over to the venue. Their tour bus destination sign said "Nobody you know."

That was as close as I got to seeing the Pixies until the reunion tour. In 1990, we roadtripped to Boston, only to find that the show had been cancelled.

Everything I have heard about the Pixies the first time around was that they were perfunctory, boring, and bored themselves. Glad they figured it out for the reunion and I'm glad my appreciation of the band wasn't tarnished by sub-par shows.

Pearl Street was a shitty place to see shows. In 1990, Sonic Youth couldn't play the main ballroom because of some cheesy dance party, so they played the dump downstairs. Disappointing show, that was.