Cover Image: Pixies performing at Fremantle Prison during their two-night residency. Photo by Adrian Thomson.

Pixies
Fremantle Prison, 8 & 9 November 2025

“Welcome, time travellers!”

So began Pixies two night residency at Fremantle Prison, an excursion into the weird and wonderful mind of one Black Francis, aka Frank Black, aka Charles Thompson IV (to his mum).

Saturday took us back in time to Pixies’ classic 1990 and 1991 albums, Bossanova and Trompe le Monde. And from the opening riff of Cecelia Ann, it was on. Francis generously explained the instrumental cover’s history, noting The Surftones original was itself based on French composer Gabriel Fauré’s Sicilienne (1893). Who knew?

He was in fine voice, too. In the hardcore roar of Rock Music, you could pinpoint the exact origins of Kurt Cobain’s throaty howl. Impressive that at 60, Francis can still pull it off.

The front half of Bossanova was notably stronger, with former Band of Skulls bassist Emma Richardson getting her first assignment of the night singing Kim Deal on Velouria, while Is She Weird and Dig for Fire were clear crowd favourites. Inexplicably, at the end of Allison, Francis admitted he hadn’t properly time-travelled to 1990 properly and insisted on performing it again. In full.

(In fairness, it was better the second time.)

We’d encounter more eccentricities the following night but then and there, the remainder of Bossanova lagged a little. Trompe le Monde had no such problems; as the kooky stage design rotated from planets to resemble the googly eyes of the Trompe cover, guitarist Joey Santiago’s finger tapping (a technique usually reserved for heavy metal) turned the title track into an absolute rager. Planet of Sound and Alec Eiffel followed suit, and all was well with the world.

This was arguably the weekend’s high point for hardcore fans, getting to experience Pixies grossly underrated UFO-themed concept masterpiece—the last from their initial 86-93 run—in full. The deadly one-two of Jesus and Mary Chain cover Head On into fan favourite U-Mass; singalongs to Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons and Space (I Believe In). Culminating perfectly on the epic Motorway to Roswell, closer The Navajo Know played out like some kind of mystical coda.  

A small number of ‘hits’ were played at the end of night one but really that was the domain of Sunday’s show. Those played both nights included arguably the biggest crowd pleasers: for all their airplay Here Comes Your Man andWhere Is My Mind? sound somehow just as fresh as they did in their 80s heyday, inspiring animated scenes from onlookers.

Sunday started strongly, focussing on imperial records Surfer Rosa and Doolittle with the triple threat of Bone Machine, Wave of Mutilation and Monkey Gone to Heaven making for a huge opening stanza (in a nice touch we’d gotten the ‘UK Surf’ version of Mutilation the night prior).

Francis humorously noted they would play a few newer songs to “validate their relevancy” which worked well on The Vegas Suite early; less so when they played four in a row from latest record The Night the Zombies Came late in the set—fair to say that was a slight momentum killer.

But there was no denying Sunday’s triumphs, and they were many. Playing Vamos and Nimrod’s Son back-to-back was genius, with Santiago’s psychotic lead breaks railing against lyrics about well hung sons, jerking off and “incestuous union”. Their Tex-Mex flair in full abandon, this was Pixies at their weirdest and wildest.

The set’s centrepiece was a run of Doolittle faves, with the sublime Gouge Away and evergreen monster hit Debaseramong the songs of the night. Meanwhile, Richardson got her moments on a cover of David Lynch’s In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) early, before psychedelic closer Into the White nearly stole the whole show.

For those of us lucky enough to witness both nights (and there were plenty) it was nothing short of a festival of Pixies and an unforgettable way to step back in time, into the unhinged imagination of some of indie rock’s greatest innovators.