I received this DVD from my brother for my Christmas and I have been dipping in and out of it since. I first got into the Pixies when Doolittle came out and for 2 or 3 years after that I thought they were just the greatest band ever to have walked the Earth. Despite my musical tastes maturing since then there is always a fantastic thrill when the opening bars of any Pixies song blast out the MP3 player.
This DVD captures the Pixies well out of their comfort zone, playing unplugged to an audience of (mainly bewildered) folkies at the world famous Newport Folk festival. The setting is slightly bizarre with a beach side stage looking out onto the sun drenched sea and the million dollar yachts cruising the harbour but somehow, despite the incongruity of it all, it works ! All the favourites are there including Ed is dead, Monkey gone to Heaven, Gouge away, Caribou and Gigantic but all with very sparse arrangements and with Dave Lovering brushing the drums and Kim Deal playing an unfeasibly large acoustic bass. My initial reaction was uncertainty but now that I have taken the time to watch the set in its entirety I think it is simply fantastic.
Strangely one of the highlights of the show is when Frank takes time out from the Pixies back catalogue and sings an old traditional folk song, "Been all around the World", which works wonderfully sandwiched between Ed is dead and Subbacultcha. The bonus documentary showing the group preparing for the gig shows just how nervous they were of playing to this audience and especially attempting to play a "folk" song in the set. They didn't need to worry, the whole thing fits together perfectly.
The Newport folk festival is famous for being the gig where Dylan first went electric and now things have come full circle with the Kings (and Queen) of Sonic rock turning acoustic.
Here is a clip of them playing "been all around the world"
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