Pixies ****
Barrowland, Glasgow
Even with bassist and founder member Kim Deal having left three years ago – her replacement is Paz Lenchantin, formerly of A Perfect Circle and Smashing Pumpkins side project Zwan – they’re a fiery, righteous, relentless live act.
Over two hours they packed in more than 30 songs, dispensing with inane between-song banter or gaps of more than a few beats between songs.
They sound great, and unusually textured, from the chiming guitar pop of Here Comes Your Man, Talent and their Neil Young cover Winterlong; to the muscular rock of Tame, Debaser and the Jesus and Mary Chain cover Head On; to the sandblown psychedelic country-rock of Snakes and Cactus.
Black was suited and bespectacled, a 51-year-old geography teacher in appearance, but still a lacerating vocalist who can elicit a hair-tingling response with one shrieked-out lyric.
Alongside him, guitarist Joey Santiago’s playing was riddled with enthusiastic hooks and Lenchantin and drummer Dave Lovering supported with fierce power. To witness them live in a venue as heated and atmospheric as the Barrowland is to emphatically realise just what the point of Pixies is.