Concert pics: Pixies in Los Angeles

Pixies at the Palladium

November 5, 2009

Leave it to late-'80s post-punk legends the Pixies to take what has now become a concert cliché—the classic album played in its entirety—and find a way to put their own twisted little spin on it. So be warned: the Pixies' highly anticipated "Doolittle" tour doesn't start with the familiar opening bass notes of "Debaser," but with a series of "Doolittle"-era B-sides so obscure that even the band admits to barely remembering some of them.

But once Frank Black and company dispensed with lost nuggets like "Weird at My School" and "Manta Ray," the second of their three sold-out shows at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles became one long, raucous nostalgia trip. The Pixies still play with more energy, conviction and creativity than most bands half their age—and even their B-sides make for pretty compelling live material.