Pixies and Modest Mouse bring the indie rock tour of the year to Chicago for 2 nights

By Colette Custin

One of the best indie rock tours of the year hit the Salt Shed this week for a two-night stand that delivered quirk and beauty across the board.

Georgia songstress Cat Power led the night with a quick set highlighting her versatility as an artist. Covering the Rolling Stones and J.D. Miller in the midst of her own tracks, her unique blend of folk, blues, and rock was a great start to the night, and sleepier, more introspective songs like “Manhattan” were a lovely compliment to the sunny weather along the river.

Portland’s Modest Mouse took the stage in hazy, technicolor fog for a set that served as a solid overview of their discography, leaning into 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News for hit “Float On” and “Bukowski” and delving briefly into 2021’s The Golden Casket for the rousing “Fuck Your Acid Trip.” Reminding the crowd to stay hydrated, vocalist and guitarist Isaac Brock also offered some sound advice before “Paper Thin Walls”: “if you’re thinking about punching someone, it always ends poorly!” Despite the upbeat rhythms and often danceable arrangements, the show was surely a poignant occasion for longtime fans of the band, having lost founding drummer Jeremiah Green to cancer in 2022, though with a follow-up to The Golden Casket on the way and a fantastic reception, we can hope that the band’s future remains bright.

The Pixies, one of alt-rock’s founding forces, remain as brilliant and odd as ever, and a long set that dug deep for diehard fans of the band was one of the summer’s best performances at the Shed. Touring in support of 2022’s Doggerel (the band’s eighth studio album), frontman Black Francis (alongside guitarist Joey Santiago, drummer David Lovering, and bassist Paz Lenchantin) is one of alternative rock’s most recognizable figures, and after opening with a cover of the Surftones’ “Cecilia Ann,” tunes like the crunchy “Planet of Sound,” beloved Jesus & Mary Chain cover “Head On,” and college radio anthems “Debaser” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven” were proven to have earned their place in the list of all-time great alt-rock songs, while new tracks like “Haunted House” and lead single “There’s a Moon On” fit in beautifully.

Pixies – Salt Shed, Chicago, IL, August 31, 2023

Cecilia Ann (Surftones)
You’re Such a Sadducee
Tame
Cactus
Planet of Sound
There’s a Moon On
Who’s More Sorry Now?
Haunted House
All the Saints
Death Horizon
Here Comes Your Man
Motorway to Roswell
Caribou
Head On
Isla de Encanta
Hey
I’ve Been Tired
The Holiday Song
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Debaser
Wave of Mutilation
Ana
Where is My Mind?
Winterlong (Neil Young)

Modest Mouse – Salt Shed, Chicago, IL, August 31, 2023
Dramamine
Bury Me With It
Dashboard
Fuck Your Acid Trip
Wooden Soldier
Paper Thin Walls
The Tortoise and Tourist
Hearts Cooks Brain
This Devil’s Workday
Bukowski
Invisible
Cowboy Dan
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
Float On
Night on the Sun

Cat Power – Salt Shed, Chicago, IL, August 31, 2023
Satisfaction (Rolling Stones)
Good Woman
Unhate
New York, New York / Manhattan
The Greatest
The Moon
It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels (J.D. Miller)
Wild is the Wind/Me voy/Rockets