Tonight was the final night of Pixies frontman Frank Black’s tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his classic solo album Teenager Of The Year, a tour that saw him performing the LP in full alongside most of the band that recorded the album originally.
Frank Black @ The Palladium
Support for the tour came by way of Newcastle-hailing indie trip The Pale White who played a set featuring tunes from the group’s sophomore album, The Big Sad, dropping this April. From the start, it was clear that the trio revolve around drummer Jack Hope’s kinetic playing and the way the band harmonise vocally. Woolly Thunder had a Big Star influence and Adam Hope’s guitar was good and jangly, but it was all about his brother’s antics for me. I think it was My Abacus that was looking back to better times, when harmony vocals were all-important. They may have felt Trapped In A Vacuum, a most understandable feeling in the 2020’s, but I felt caught in a Britpop moment as the song rushed past me.
They were truly thankful for the chance to play London’s fabulous Palladium venue before Tom Booth’s bassline led off Nostradamus that seemed to predict a better future than the present we are currently in before closing with Lost In The Moment that the band certainly seemed to be, even if most of the audience were lost in anticipation for Frank Black’s set.
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Frank Black @ The Palladium (Louise Phillips)
After the between-set break, a packed Palladium welcomed Frank Black and his band onto the stage. The star told us they would play a couple of tunes from his first solo album before they aired Teenager Of The Year, following-through with set-opener Czar from his self-titled debut solo LP, that showed his troupe was ready to rule the Palladium, with Lyle Workman taking his first rather jagged guitar solo of the evening. Ten Percenter had Eric Drew Feldman’s solid as can be bassline with Rob Laufer’s keyboards driving it along.
The Boston-hailing frontman then told us about how he and his brother would hustle for change in a bar. And when that bar got its first arcade game they made out like bandits, as he introduced the opening song of tonight’s focus LP Whatever Happened To Pong that the group seemed to speed through. Thalassocracy had a powerful energy to it. Black switched to Acoustic guitar for the first time for (I Want To Live On An) Abstract Plain that had the right kind of abstract edge to it. He made clear why Calistan was named so and his thoughts on how California was being run 30 years ago, that and getting the chance to play parcheesi. I think it was Vanishing Spies when Eric Drew Feldman and Rob Laufer switched places as they did regularly through the set, so it was Feldman’s keyboards driving the tune on. Speedy Marie had a good amphetamine edge to it before almost the whole Palladium sang along to Headache, a truly brilliant live airing.
Sir Rockaby felt like an immense comedown, the group slowing to a lullaby pace before everything built back up to the anthemic Freedom Rock that felt truly powerful, although in our current times we may be dreaming of different freedoms to 30 years ago! The 59-year-old band lead explained Two Reelers was about his love of slap-stick comedy, Three Stooges style before Workman’s guitar really flew at sharp angles. Things then felt a little odd for Fiddle Riddle with the tune builing all around Nick Vincent’s drums and Feldman’s lilting bassline for the closest Frank Black gets to skanking. Ole Mulholland was dedicated to the old Los Angeles and was a proper widescreen anthem with great interplay between Workman and Black’s guitars. Fazer Eyes showed the band’s more glammy side with the keyboards sounding a bit Mott against Workman’s flashier solo.
I’m sure they would have been happy, if I Could Stay Here Forever on this stage, with an adoring crowd loving the faultless musical interplay. They got to the song most associated with The Palladium’s old Sunday Night host Bruce Forsyth, and as Black sang The Hostess With The Mostest I kept expecting to see Isla St Clair or Anthea Redfern being projected onto the stage backdrop. The band slowed things down on the organ led Superabound, before they paid tribute to another London venue Big Red with this dark brooding ballad.
Space Is Gonna Do Me Good allowed Workman to freak out a good bit, with Vincent’s drums really seemed to be powering the rocket ship. Of course White Noise Maker describes this lot perfectly, and had a celebratory edge to it tonight. Black made clear how much he liked CB radio when he was young, dreaming of the Pure Denizens Of The Citizens Band. Sadly Bad, Wicked World seemed to sum up our times even more than it did 30 years ago, but tonight’s was a super punchy rambunctious rendition. The last song on Teenager Of The Year – Pie In The Sky – was super caustic and had a real abrasive edge.
At the LP’s conclusion, the band didn’t depart the stage but instead went back to the first solo album for what was as good as a three-song encore, that opened with Los Angeles – a love letter to Black’s long time home town and all its quirks. He then thanked us all before Every Time I Go Around Here that also had a nice nostalgic edge before the frontman told us just how much the Ramones inspired him and The Pixies, closing the night with a rousing sing along to I Heard Ramona Sing that seemed a perfect way to end a great celebration of a classic album.
Live review of Frank Black @ The Palladium, London by Simon Phillips on 6th February 2025. Photography by Louise Phillips.
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