Article & photos by: Linda Carlson

Cincinnati, OH – Summer concerts are officially in full swing, and the Brady Music Center welcomed Pixies for an evening of crowd-pleasing rock and revelry.

The evening’s fare started with Nashville’s Bully, a band that has evolved into the solo project of singer songwriter and guitarist Alicia Bognanno.  Steeped in passionate angst that taps heavily into 90’s grunge, the band is promoting their June 2023 album, Lucky For You, performing recent releases, “Lose You” and “Days Move Slow.”  Bognanno was accompanied on stage by Callan Dawn (guitar), Nick Byrd (bass) and Wesley Mitchell (drums).

Next was Scottish band Franz Ferdinand, featuring founding members Alex Kapranos (vocals, guitar) and Bob Hardy (bass), along with Dino Bardot (guitar), Julian Corrie (keyboard, guitar), and Audrey Tait (drums).  The growing crowd really responded to the band’s upbeat, completely dance-worthy songs and Kapranos’ delightfully quirky style.

By this point, the crowd had grown quite robust and was ready for headliner Pixies, fronted by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar), with Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Paz Lenchantin (bass) and David Lovering (drums) filling out the ensemble, instrumentally and vocally.

Pixies have not performed since 2018, and were clearly ready to make up for lost time.  With nearly 30 songs on the docket (!), this Boston band put forth a monumental set that pulled from the band’s eight studio albums, as well a few covers (including The Surftones’ “Cecilia Ann” and The Jesus And Mary Chain’s “Head On”).  The band played hard (and soft), and the fans responded enthusiastically.  Francis was superb, with Lenchantin’s vocals adding a wispy, bluesy layer to the intoxicating rhythms.

The band is promoting their latest album, Doggerel, which was released in September 2022.  Born during the pandemic, the album features songs that run the gamut of decadence (“Dregs of the Wine”), to lust (“There’s A Moon On”) to war and destruction (“Thunder & Lightning”).

The Pixies’ impressive setlist for the night included:

• Cecilia Ann (The Surftones cover)
• Something Against You
• Isla de Encanta
• Wave of Mutilation
• Human Crime
• Monkey Gone to Heaven
• Planet of Sound
• Who’s More Sorry Now?
• Get Simulated
• Thunder and Lightning
• Gouge Away
• Head On (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
• Caribou
• Doggerel
• Hey
• Mr. Grieves
• Snakes
• Motorway to Roswell
• There’s a Moon On
• Dregs of the Wine
• Haunted House
• Ana
• Death Horizon
• All the Saints
• Here Comes Your Man
• Greens and Blues (first time since 2018)
• Vamos
• Nimrod’s Son
• Where Is My Mind?

The band is just now finishing their second leg of a four-leg North American tour.  The third leg, which will feature Modest Mouse and Cat Power, begins in August.  The fourth leg, with tour stops in the western USA, will begin in September.  Check the band’s website for upcoming dates!

Be sure to click on the image carousel below for more photos from the Cincinnati show!