The Pixies Back to Do Doolittle

The Pixies rank as one of indie rocks most respected and enduring bands. They never became as accessible (or as successful) as the likes of REM and Smashing Pumpkins but they rank as highly in the annals of indie as just about any band.

It’s now been 20 years since the release of their defining album Doolittle and in a slightly non-indie type move they have been doing shows to celebrate the album.

Fair enough. Any excuse, we say.

Doolittle was an extraordinary album. It began with Debaser an ode to the 1929 surrealist Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí film Un chien andalouin. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the song at number 21 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Doolittle also featured Here Comes Your Man, the closest The Pixies ever came to a pop hit and Monkey Gone to Heaven, the only Pixies song with a string section, which was a Top 10 modern rock radio hit in the US, reached the Top 100 in the UK and still receives regular radio play.

Doolittle was acclaimed by fans and music critics alike, and it is perhaps their best-selling record.  In 2003, the album was ranked number 226 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It also placed on Q Magazine’s 100 Greatest Albums Ever

The band will play in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth next March.

It will only be the second time the band has come to Australia – the first as headliners of the inaugural V Festival in 2007. On that tour, the band played a secret show at Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club to warm up, which those who attended still talk about.

MARCH 2010

14 – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW
18 – Convention Centre, Brisbane, QLD
20 – Festival Hall, Melbourne, VIC
24 – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, SA
27 – Belvoir Amphitheatre, Perth, WA