Pixies – Palace Theater – St. Paul, MN – July 31st 2025

Pixies (with Kurt Vile and the Violators)  – Thursday, July 31, 2025 at the Palace Theater, St. Paul, MN

Review and photos by Jim Zons

I’ve been a fan of the Pixies since first hearing them on the radio station ahead of its time in the Twin Cities, Modern Rock KJ 104, in the early 1990s, so I was excited to see that they were coming to the Twin Cities for a unique two night “residency” at the Palace Theater in St. Paul.  Their current tour has them performing their “Bossanova” and “Trompe le Monde” albums in their entirety, back to back, on the first night, followed by a night of classic Pixies music the second night.  I caught them the first night (but catch a review of their second night at the Palace Theater here on 1013musicreviews.com by following this link.)

Opening act was Kurt Vile and the Violators, a performer who was new to me, but I had now experienced two nights in a row, thanks to a surprise appearance with Dinosaur Jr. the night before in Minneapolis. Vile grew up in the Philadelphia area and has been recording music since he was a teenager. He counts music by Pavement, John Prine, Neil Young, Tom Petty and Dinosaur Jr. as influencing his own style, and you really felt that throughout his set.  The music was very melodic, and more low key, very reminiscent of Prine and Young, although a couple of up tempo tunes mid set had more of that Petty feel to them.

Finally, it was time for the Pixies to take the stage. The Pixies were founded in 1986 by guitarist Joey Santiago and vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Black Francis in Boston. Their sound was on the cutting edge of the 1990s alternative rock sound, and was influential on many bands in that following decade, with a punk rock/surf rock sound that is truly unique. They were actually more successful in Europe than here in the states and eventually split up in 1993, just as the alternative/grunge rock sound was taking off in the US. After a break, they reunited in 2003 and have been touring and releasing new music on and off ever since.

The Pixies are one of those unique bands where I may not know all of their music, but when I hear it, I think to myself, “I don’t know this, but I LIKE it!” … and that is the way it was for me through their entire set. As I mentioned, this was the first night of a two night “residency” and they played songs from their “Bossanova” album first (with “planets” on stage behind them mimicking that album cover) and then songs from their “Trompe le Monde” album for the second half of their set (the planets changed to strange “eyeball” images as seen on the “Trompe le Monde” album cover). I’ve been to a few shows by other bands doing this same format where they play a fan favorite album start to finish, and really do enjoy it since you get a chance to hear music that isn’t typically played live.  Of course, for the encore, they added in some of their bigger hits from other albums , including “Here Comes Your Man” from 1989’s “Doolittle” album and finishing with 1997’s  “Into the White” sung by new bassist  Emma Richardson. If you’re looking to get transported back in time to college radio music you loved back in the late 1980s and 1990s, don’t miss the Pixies on their current two-night residency tour when it comes to a venue near you!