Kim Deal can sing about going to the fair in the heat of summer and have it be a good song.
I hadn't known that the Breeders were doing anything until a few days ago, when I found out that not only do they have a new album, but that they were also playing the twin cities. I was excited; like everyone else on the planet, I'm in love with Kim Deal. The Breeders have a new lineup, again, making this their third or forth incarnation. Kim is the only one to play in all three incarnations, with Kelley the only other holdover from last time. The other three band members, all men, are unfamiliar to me. Apparently two of them are from Fear, and the other one is some East Los Angeles guy. Also, the Deal sisters have apparently moved to East LA, now that I am not living there, which figures.
The band played stuff from all three incarnations of the Breeders, songs from the Amps, Kelley Deal 6000, and the opener from Gigantic, which Kim started playing after audience requests for Tony's Theme. She got a few lines in and then stopped, saying she didn't remember it, saying they weren't that band. This was like being shown a glimpse of heaven and then knowing that I was never going there, since the Pixies split up about the time I became obsessed with them. Despite the lack of Pixies songs, which is a pretty minor point especially when you consider that most bands have never had any affiliation with the Pixies at all, the Breeders put on a damn fine show, so no more about the Pixies here.
The band has a really great interaction with the crowd. This is mostly Kim, but also Kelley and the guy I think is Richard Presley, talk to people and tell bad jokes (Kim: what's the difference between a blonde and a mosquito?). They talk about how long Kelley lived in St. Paul, make jokes about her drug problem. They ask who in the crowd is from Ohio, then call the people who raise their hands liars.
Listening to Kim's voice, and also to Kelley's, since they sound almost exactly the same, I'm glad I don't have an ex who sounds like them. They have the kind of sweet cracked voices that can break you over the phone years after the fact, the kind of voices that would haunt me when I was sleeping. There's something about the Deal sisters that's very appealing. Not in the same way as the drummer for Imperial Teen, the opening act, not in that normal hot chick way. They've got more of that relaxed hotness, the kind that you hang out and watch tv and drink beer with, telling bad jokes at the wrong times. I don't know what it is. What I know is that I need to get laid a lot worse than I did before I went to that show.
The show goes on. My ribcage is a sound system, my organs vibrating. There are points where I can't tell if they're shaking from the volume or the crushing feeling of falling in love. They play Tipp City, Hag, Cannonball, a bunch of new stuff. The opening to Gigantic, which is when I really feel like something in my chest is going to beat its way out. Pacer, Hellbound, the theme from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Driving on 9, with Kelley on violin. They close with Divine Hammer and a bunch of cracks about Kelley's inlaws being in the audience. Kim and Kelley shake hands with people up by the stage. I get a shirt and walk out, not sure if I feel changed, exultant, or empty.