subject: Pixies Tickets - Pixies Prep Live Albums [print this page] On the heels of kicking off their Doolittle stint at London's O2 Academy Brixton on Oct. 6, the Pixies announced plans to release live albums of the London, Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris legs of their current Doolittle road trip. According to NME website, the band made exactly 1,000 copies of each album available to fans 10 minutes after each show ends in person and on Pixies.sandbag.uk online. About 500 USB wristbands containing recordings of the shows and videos from the tour were made available both online and after the Pixies' shows, as well.
The live albums are also available to download and were made from the Pixies gigs at London's O2 Academy Brixton (Oct. 6, 7, 8, 9), Amsterdam's Heineken Music Hall (Oct. 13), Brussels' Forest National (Oct. 13) and Paris' Zenith (Oct. 15 and 16). The Pixies began their European trek Oct. 1 in Dublin, and fans can check online for Pixies tickets to attend one of their live shows.
Black Francis (real name Charles Thompson) and Joey Santiago formed the Pixies in 1986 in Boston, adding bassist Kim Deal and David Lovering to the lineup soon after. Thumbing through the dictionary at random during one of the band's earliest days, Santiago opened up to a page with the group's now-famous moniker and thus christened the group the Pixies. Artsy English label 4AD released the band's debut EP in 1987 and the Pixies debut full-length, the iconic effort Surfer Rosa, followed not long afterward. Establishing the Pixies' penchant for heavy guitar riffs, pop hooks, male-female harmonies and a hint of Latin influence, Surfer Rosa was a hit across the pond in the U.K. and by the end of 1988 scored the band a record deal with Elektra.
Doolittle was the Pixies' first album released via Elektra, and it was also the band's first to garner attention in the States. Two singles off Doolittle, "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Done to Heaven," were Top 10 modern rock hits, but by the beginning of 1990, the Boston-bred band abruptly announced plans to take a break. Contrary to their intentions to take a hiatus, the Pixies released Bossanova that fall. Despite spawning college radio hits "Veloria" and "Dig for Fire," the album got mixed reviews, likely a result of increasing tensions between Deal and Black Francis. While on tour in support of Bossanova, Deal told the crowd at the band's gig at the Brixton Academy of London that the show was to be the band's last - much to the surprise of her bandmates.
Deal's announcement proved to be another false alarm, as the Pixies released their fourth album, Trompe le Monde, in 1991 (although they did cancel the American leg of their tour in support of Trompe le Monde's predecessor, Bossanova). After hitting the road in support of Trompe le Monde, the Pixies opened for Irish rock band U2 on the band's Zoo TV Tour the following year, and then the Pixies went on hiatus and eventually announced an official split. In 2004, the Pixies reunited for a U.S. tour that included a high-profile show at the Coachella Music Festival. Fans will likely be clamoring to get their hands on some Pixies tickets to attend a concert now that they are back for another reunion round of touring.
