...In which our heroine goes to shows.

I am a fortunate person. Despite all the bullshit and the unnecessary worrying, there are moments in life where I just feel truly lucky. The past three days have been filled with many of those. I've gotten to see my second favorite album of all time, Doolittle, performed three nights in a row in its entirety, by my favorite band, the Pixies.

I was kind of glad to have the Thursday show to have my moment alone before being joined Friday with the BFFF. I danced, and rejoiced because I was seeing the Pixies, who I saw twice in 8th grade, and never thought I'd see again. It really struck me, alone in the beautiful Aragon Ballroom, how in the six years since I saw them last, how many things I've done. I'm not a little kid anymore. When I saw the Pixies in 8th grade, my dad was worried about me standing too much in front of him, and now here I was going to see them all by myself, in the city I lived in. And how stunningly apropos it was to have them here my birthday week, on the 2nd anniversary of the tattoo I got for them, no less.

As for the shows themselves, they were just perfect. You can tell the band is just so thrilled that people want to come see them and genuinely happy to be performing - Kim Deal did all the onstage banter, and just kept smiling. I could've cried when they bowed for curtain call Thursday night - I never thought I'd see the Pixies again and here they were. Bliss. Pure, perfect bliss.

Song highlights: "Gigantic" closing out Thursday and Saturday night. The assault of "Tame" Friday and Saturday. "Isla de Encanta" Friday night, "The Holiday Song" Saturday neither of which I thought they'd do. "No. 13 Baby" Friday, even though I'm not a huge fan of that song on the album. Non-highlights: I could really care if I ever hear "Where is my Mind?" again because of all the people who say they're Pixies fans for that song, although the disco ball was a pretty cool accompaniment. And "Here Comes Your Man." What can I say? I'm an elitist for Pixies.

Setlists - Dancing at the Manta Ray / Weird at my School / Bailey's Walk / Manta Ray / Debaser / Tame / Wave of Mutilation / I Bleed/ Here Comes Your Man/ Dead/ MONKEY GONE TO HEAVEN/ Mr. Grieves / Crackity Jones / La La Love You / No 13. Baby / There Goes My Gun / Hey / Silver / Gouge Away / Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) / Into the White

Thursday Encore: Dig for Fire / Planet of Sound / Where is My Mind? / Gigantic
Friday Encore: Isla de Encanta / Nimrod's Son / U-Mass / Velouria
Saturday Encore: The Holiday Song / Something Against You / Vamos / Where is my Mind? / Gigantic

Friday sounded the best overall, though Thursday was the most enjoyable because it wasn't sold out, and the crowd was best Saturday. It was disgustingly hot all three nights, but who cares when you're seeing your favorite band, dancing with your BFFF? Perfection.

The band, then Mrs. John Murphy and Mr. Black Francis.