Pixies, Aviva Studios. 25th May 2026

It’s a hot day in Manchester, a hot night for that matter. It would take a special band to drag me indoors, I give you… Pixies! We’re in a different room than I’ve been in Aviva Studios for a gig before, The Alan Law Hall (not the Warehouse upstairs). It’s rather nice. There are a lot of different spaces within Factory International. This one is a theatre space, a big wide floor with a mezzanine seated area above. It is a bit warm though, I’m glad I’ve dressed accordingly, basically as little as possible without getting arrested. Most importantly, the sound in here is decent. Pixies are on night two in Manchester and pledge to mix it up. Which for any other band, might be a worry. Last night’s 30 song set looked amazing, but fear not, they have hundreds of great songs, one being ‘River Euphrates’ which provides a nice moody intro, before ‘Crackity Jones’ hits the gas and ‘The Sad Punk’s intro explodes, before it morphs into its surf guitar sway. Honestly it’s quite the start to a Pixies set, this might be a bit special. There little chatter as they ease into ‘I’ve Been Tired’, with pockets of pogoing dotted around the floor, but it seems this crowd might need some time to warm up, ironically. ‘Hangwire’ does get introduced, as “an oldie but a goody”, which to be fair sums up most of the set, although switch out good for bloody brilliant.The pace of the slower songs like ‘Down to the Well’ suits the room. The heat of the day is energy sapping, although the AC does seem to have kicked in and is another tick in the box for this venue. ‘No. 13 Baby’ sounds fantastic. Those guitars are deep and sludgy, those basslines, fucking cool and Frank is in fine voice as ever. ‘Kings of the Prairie’ is newer and predictably the crowd nod and sway tolerantly, but not too excitedly. It’s Pixies with the sharp edges rounded off, but this is where they are later in their catalogue and it still sounds good. ‘Um Chagga Lagga’ lives up to its name with Dave’s driving drums smashing out typically metronomic timing. Again from the last album, ‘Jane (The Night the Zombies Came)’ does continue to make some of the less devout fans lose focus, which is a shame as it’s a great song. The beauty I guess though, is Pixies songs are short, if you don’t like one, another one will be along in a few minutes. ’Bone Machine’ reunites the room. I guess Manchester likes a spot of filthy noise. Joey in his flat cap certainly seems to be enjoying it too. We’re then told that their old band manager is apparently in the room and has requested ‘Debasser’ a selection the entire room is clearly enamoured with and sets in motion a truly stunning wave of songs, that punch harder and harder with every swing. ‘Head On’ picks up the mantle and soars. ’Isla de Encanta’ goes ballastic, the guy near me on crutches is fucking loving it. ‘Subbaculture’ does slow us down, mercifully, but it sounds deadly. It bleeds effortlessly into ‘Cactus’ with Emma Richardson’s bass sounding phenomenal and Dave’s single drum strike cutting through. Want more, how about ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven’ which gets the singalong it deserves. Possibly the most unlikely anthem ever. I’ll never tire of standing in a crowd screaming “God is seven!”. The flex is insane, as Frank nonchalantly says “Hey” and room swoons.  ‘Hey’ is just beautiful, the room bathed in blue, I just wanna dance and do. Emma leads us into the haunting ‘In Heaven’. She sounds great. Let’s be clear, not Kim great, but certainly Paz great and Paz kept the bar pretty damn high. What is it with Pixies and kick ass bassists. I’m a sucker for a great bassist, but the three this band have had are of an instantly high calibre. ‘Here Comes Your Man’ keeps the party, now in full flow, rolling along gloriously, before the live favourite ‘Vamos’ gives Joey the limelight. Frank shows him some love, hyping up the solo freeform squall we know is coming. It sounds magnificent of course, as lights explodes and shrieking walls of demonic feedback are pulled from Joey’s guitar, as doff’s his cap and holds it aloft, with the band tightening around him. The cap held aloft to applause as the band tighten around him. ‘Greens and Blues’ doesn’t land in a rare misstep, but ‘Bones’ quickly puts us back on track. Even with the decent AC, it’s pretty warm though and people are flagging. You can tell that want to give more though. It’s a pretty incredible set. I’m not sure I’ve heard ‘Ed is Dead’ live for years. It’s an absolute treat! We get the surf guitar version of ‘Wave of Mulitlation’ with us all swaying (possibly with heat exhaustion) and singing again. It’s simply sublime. ‘Motorway to Roswell’ is again utterly glorious, as its coda slows down to an ominous mantra. ‘Where is My Mind?’ Is a good question. In a blissful puddle I think. The crutches guy is swaying happily, phones are out, but not too many. The house lights then come up somewhat bizarrely for ‘Into the White’. It’s not bad just unusual. It turns out it is the last song, but I can’t quite work out if it’s intentional or not. What a set though. There’s no point in comparing it to last night, they were likely both wonderful, which is testament to a band that never disappoint.