Music

The Pixies, with origins at the University of Massachusetts, played the first of two nights at MGM Friday.

The Pixies, with Momma, MGM Music Hall, July 18, 2025.

The Pixies kicked off the first of their two nights back home in Boston with an ode to the “era of college rock” – their final two albums recorded before the alt-rock pioneers disbanded.

The Pixies’ first night at MGM Music Hall in Fenway on Friday, with support from California band Momma, featured 1990’s “Bossanova” and 1991’s “Trompe le Monde” in full. With pounding bass, the Pixies’ surfy punk rock filled the hall, but the band didn’t rely on any audience rapport to bolster the show.

The Pixies, made up of original members Francis, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering, as well as new bassist Emma Richardson, are touring to support their 2024 album, “The Night the Zombies Came.” However, no tracks of that were played on Friday.

“We’re going back to 1990,” frontman and vocalist Black Francis said to the crowd, “when the sun shined brightly on the college rock era.” Francis briefly mentioned the band’s start in Boston, he hurried on to their move to California.

After the band broke up in 1993, they reunited in 2004, bringing their sound to another generation. But Friday’s show wasn’t about bridging the gap between their late 80s punk rock and their 2010s hits. Saturday’s show, however, will likely cover more of the Pixies’ gamut of hits.

Their surreal lyrics and hooking melodies from the college albums, albeit after their skyrocketing “Doolittle,” carried the show. “Velouria,” “Allison,” and “The Happening” all had the packed floor head bobbing and jumping. 

But Francis didn’t offer any encouragement to the crowd to get moving. He didn’t chat much, outside of dedicating a song to a late friend and even starting the band over during “Lovely Day” after he said they sounded like “[expletive].”

Santiago harnessed acoustic feedback into stellar guitar solos and riffs, including in “Trompe le Monde’s” “Planet of Sound.” The 1991 album is full of dynamic hits, like “Alec Eiffel” about the engineer of the Parisian tower, and “lots of little ditties in this part of the record,” Francis said before “Big Dream of the Olympic Mons.”

The big Boston moment was the Pixies song “U-Mass,” with the crowd yelling out “Massachusetts.” For some, it was a show of deep-cut Pixies classics, but the set almost felt perfunctory with its straight roll through the albums. The band likely had a time crunch to play two full records, but the audience, welcoming back an iconic Boston band, could have been involved.

The hour-and-45-minute show ended with a few of their hits, including two from “Doolittle,” for a crowd screaming when they heard the opening of “Here Comes Your Man.” 

“See you tomorrow,” Francis said at the end of “Trompe” before a few classic encore hits like modern hit “Into the White,” “Where Is My Mind?” and “Debaser.”

But, in what was likely a celebratory moment, the overhead house lights came on during “Into the White” and stayed on through “Debaser.” It first felt like a mistake, but the band played on.

The lights maybe should have stayed low for the band’s 1989 headbanger “Debaser,” but the band members, now in their 60s, had the lights on for a round of bows to end the night.

The Pixies return to MGM Saturday night, July 19, with Kurt Vile in support.

Setlist for Pixies at MGM Music Hall, Boston, July 18, 2025:

“Bossanova”

• Cecilia Ann
• Rock Music
• Velouria
• Allison
• Is She Weird
• Ana
• All Over the World
• Dig for Fire
• Down To The Well
• The Happening
• Blown Away
• Hang Wire
• Stormy Weather
• Havalina

“Trompe le Monde”

• Trompe le Monde
• Planet of Sound?
• Alec Eiffel
• The Sad Punk
• Head On
• U-Mass
• Palace of the Brine
• Letter to Memphis
• Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons
• Space (I Believe In)
• Subbacultcha
• Distance Equals Rate Times Time
• Lovely Day
• Motorway to Roswell
• The Navajo Know

• In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)
• Here Comes Your Man
• Where Is My Mind?
• Into the White
• Debaser

Molly Farrar

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.

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