Pixies for nixies

Nirvana were the global break-out act of the early '90s but The Pixies (frontman Frank Black pictured) were the soundtrack of any inner-city or suburban hipster party in the closely-preceeding late '80s. Certainly that was the case in Sydney.

Personally, I wasn't fussed about or fascinated with them, either way. I owned "Dolittle", which was flogged to death on the (then listenable) 2JJJ, the youth-orientated Aussie broadcaster whose reach hadn't yet extended nationally and thus wasn't as homogenised as it is today. The Pixies were an OK listen, mainly because their guitars bristled. They were way preferable to A Flock Of Sausages, Pseudo (as in "Fraud") Echo and all those crappy Euro-synth bands, but I had my head in another musical space.

The point is that the reformed Pixies have a world tour happening, as well as a nearly sold-out run through Australia, and that'll take all those once-upon-a-time hispter kids back to their yewf and have everyone asking whether they really had a haircut like that back in the '80s. You'll also get to download each gig, or walk away from a show with a copy on a USB stick.

More immediately, there's a free download of a Paris concert here and everyone likes shit that is free, don't they? Tell me if it's any good.

New York Dolls Down Under

You heard it here second. The New York Dolls (or remnants thereof) are heading to Australia as part of the Michael Coppel-Richard Branson V Festival series. And before you ask (a.) my source is impeccable and (b.) sideshows are unlikely.

So it looks like you can make a beeline for Sydney (March 31), the Gold Coast (April 1) or Melbourne (April 3 and 4 - not sure what night the Dolls will be on) if you want to see them. Along with Gnarls Barkley, Groove Armada and Pet Shop Boys. That's one strange line-up. Headliners are The Pixies, who will probably be tolerable if you like being reminded of the soundtrack to every second party in Sydney in the '80s but you can keep the rest of that lot. And it ain't cheap at $120 a ticket ($110 for each Melbourne date.)

As to the question whether the Dolls would be worth seeing, grab a copy of the DVD of their reformation shows (with the soon-to-be-departed Killer Kane) and the answer will be self-evident. The studio album was respectable in a metally, David JoHo-dominated way but it's the live action where it's happening.