Pixies at Salt Shed, Chicago (Sep 15, 2025)

Pixies Setlist

In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) (Peter Ivers & David Lynch cover)
Death Horizon
Vamos
Here Comes Your Man
Wave of Mutilation
Nimrod’s Son
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Isla de Encanta
Winterlong (Neil Young cover)
Planet of Sound
Chicken
Motoroller
Bone Machine
Hey
Gouge Away
Caribou
Velouria
Motorway to Roswell
Head On (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
Debaser
The Happening
Snakes
The Vegas Suite
Wave of Mutilation
Cactus
Where Is My Mind?
Into the White

Tour Dates

Sep 17 The Pinnacle Nashville, TN
Sep 19 Shaky Knees 2025 Atlanta, GA
Sep 20 The Masquerade Atlanta, GA
Nov 2 GORILLA HALL OSAKA Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Nov 4 EX THEATER ROPPONGI Minato City, Japan
Nov 5 EX THEATER ROPPONGI Minato City, Japan
Nov 8 Fremantle Prison Fremantle, Australia
Nov 9 Fremantle Prison Fremantle, Australia
Nov 13 Hordern Pavilion Moore Park, Australia
Nov 14 Hordern Pavilion Moore Park, Australia
Nov 16 The Fortitude Music Hall Brisbane, Australia
Nov 17 The Fortitude Music Hall Brisbane, Australia
Nov 19 Festival Hall Melbourne, Australia
Nov 20 Festival Hall Melbourne, Australia
Nov 23 Auckland Town Hall Auckland, New Zealand
Nov 24 Auckland Town Hall Auckland, New Zealand
Nov 26 St James Theatre Te Aro, New Zealand
Nov 27 St James Theatre Te Aro, New Zealand
Nov 30 The Republik Honolulu, HI
Dec 1 The Republik Honolulu, HI

The Salt Shed, a relatively new venue (2022) in Chicago, played host to the Pixies, Spoon, and Fazerdaze on a lovely September summer day. First a little bit about the venue, a mere 6 hours from the Twin Cities (depending on traffic), on Goose Island. They have done a fantastic job in making this space an exceptional place to see a show. There is both an indoor and an outdoor stage. Being the aforementioned lovely summer day, it was outside. Being right by the river drops the temperature is a bit cooler and provides a great backdrop. If you have the chance, I highly recommend taking in a show here.

Now onto the show! Oh, but wait, a couple of disclaimers:

I made the trip to see Fazerdaze. That’s right, I drove 7 hours to see Fazerdaze play for 30 minutes. I mean, I did get to stay with my college roommate and also coincidentally saw my two best friends from high school. BUT Fazerdaze was the impetus for the trip. I owe my admiration of Fazerdaze to Thaddeus who reviewed Fazerdaze when they opened for Pond at First Ave last November. I’m a big fan of female-fronted alternative/pop bands, so it’s not surprising that I like her music but there’s something a little extra about Fazerdaze beyond just Amelia’s voice.
I am not a professional so I’m writing this review for my enjoyment, not yours. If you happen to enjoy it also, fantastic. I say this not just to sound like a jerk but to help you understand why the review is the way it is. So, if I’m being honest, it’s to address my own feelings of inadequacy and to lower your expectations. That way we both win or, at least, lose by a closer margin?
I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a Spoon song. I’m sure I have and I’m sure I’ll recognize a song or two once I hear them. And I’ve absolutely heard of them. I’m not saying this to disparage Spoon at all. It’s no knock that I’m not familiar with them. What the fuck do they care? My sense is that they’ve done just fine for themselves despite my ignorance. The reason I bring it up is because I decided to try something. Normally I would’ve listened to their recent albums or created a playlist based on Setlist.fm prior to the show. However, I decided to go in tabula rasa for this show and see if my months of being a professional music critic changes my ability to enjoy new music. My hunch is it will not, but I do feel like I’ve developed the ability to appreciate new music, which is different than enjoy, but a cousin.
I’m definitely NOT a professional music critic.

Now onto the show!

Oh, wait! One more disclaimer. I wrote the disclaimers above before the show, which is why the disclaimer about Spoon reads the way it does. If you’re confused by this, see Disclaimers 2 and 4.

Doors opened at 5:00 and there was an eager group of 100-150, mostly younger folks, that were congregated in front of the stage, some might say even loitering – making the old folks, who were there early for the Pixies, nervous. Fazerdaze began playing at 6:00 pm, almost to the second, and delivered a solid 30-minute set, again nearly to the second, to a steadily growing crowd. I have spent a lot of time watching YouTube clips of Fazerdaze and listening on Spotify and was eager to see them, obviously, particularly Amelia, the creative force behind Fazerdaze. The venue is an open-air one that can hold 5,500 people with a lot of space, which was mostly empty as they started. I would think that this is a little daunting, especially given that this is their first tour playing venues this size. I may have been imagining it or projecting my own nervousness, but I think Amelia’s voice had a bit of a quiver to it for the first song and a half. However, as the size of the audience grew and the appreciation got louder, her voice steadied and was the amazing instrument I have heard so many times before. I fully acknowledge that that’s my internal narrative. Accompanying Amelia on this US tour is fellow Kiwi, David Rowlands. It was fun to watch the interaction between the two, which was playful and familiar. You can see which songs they played over to the right and I’m not going to go through then one by one. The highlights for me were the three songs that closed the set: “Lucky Girl” off the debut album, 2017’s Morningside; “Bigger”; and “Cherry Pie”, both off of 2024’s Soft Power. “Cherry Pie” is clearly an homage to Warrant’s 1990 classic of the same name. I attended the concert with my college roommate, Borton, or Josh if you’re feeling nasty, with whom I’ve seen dozens of show, entirely in our late teens and early twenties all over Chicago. Our first concert together in a while (28 years?) saw a kinder more tolerant Borton, but still a critical music fan who had his opinions of Fazerdaze. Maybe if we’re lucky, and by we I mean myself and my internal voice, since I think it’s unlikely that anyone is actually reading this, anyway, if we’re lucky, maybe he’ll provide his thoughts on the show in the comments section. I’m glad I made the trek to see Fazerdaze. If they can fly from the other side of the world, then I can drive through Wisconsin to see them. Hopefully it won’t be the last time; I have so many questions for them. Is it true that toilets flush counter (or anti-) clockwise in NZ? Are there really more sheep than humans on NZ? Is she aware that NZ and Australia are on different continental plates and does she think that’s what fuels their mutual animosity? Who’s nicer Jemaine or Bret?

Fazerdaze (Amelia)

Fazerdaze (David and Amelia)

OK on to Spoon. You want the punchline? I liked Spoon’s performance; they are a very good live band. And I do know a couple of their songs, in particular, “The Way We Get By”. Go me and go Spoon! After taking in Fazerdaze at ground level about 20 feet from the stage, we decided to seek higher ground and made our way to the top level of a bleachers section about ¾ of the way back. A very different experience but it has great sight lines, and I didn’t need to be right up front for their set as it was quite audible from a distance. Although, I did decide to push through the crowd in front of the stage on my way to the bathroom, so I could get a couple closer-up pictures (see my artistry below) and remind myself why I don’t like standing in crowds. Plus, as I made my way, I got to play the hilarious joke of parking my 6’4” frame in front of a tiny woman and pretending I was just going to stand there. It killed with her friends, not so much with her. I’m sorry short lady. That’s all I have to say about Spoon. I’m pretty sure you can find an actual review of Spoon’s performance out there.

The Pixies must run a tight ship because both Fazerdaze and Spoon were right at time with their sets. Although, they took their sweet time getting on stage and started playing a wee bit before 8:30. Before I really had time to get settled, they had played 4 songs. There was hardly any pause between songs. It wasn’t even 8:45 and they’d played “In Heaven”, the David Lynch Peter Ivers cover and “Here Comes Your Man”. The 5^th song was “Wave of Mutilation”. The one-two of HCYM and WoM really got the crowd jazzed. Then they settled into a bunch of songs I do not know. Despite the fact that I should absolutely be a Pixies fan given my musical taste and how many Pixies-adjacent fans I am a fan of, I don’t really know them. Now that I’ve seen them live, I appreciate their music. It helped me put my finger on why I did not take to them in the 90s, they’re a bit too sonically edgy and messy for my delicate sensibilities. At that time, I really liked clean, clear melodies. If there were heavy guitars involved, that was fine, just give me my melody. Hence why HCYM resonates with me. The vibe that they bring live coupled with the broadening of my musical tolerance helped me appreciate them last night. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to know. They played a solid 90-minute set that closed out with the UK Surf version of “Wave of Mutilation”, “Cactus”, “Where Is My Mind?”, and “Into the White”. The final two, in particular, were really good. Everyone was clearly waiting for WIMM and, given the number of people that were streaming out as it ended, assumed it would be the last song. I understand why they chose “Into the White”, though. It has really strong vocals by Kim and allowed for some cool lighting and fog effects (see pictures). Overall, I enjoyed their performance.

The Pixies

The Pixies – Into the White

So to sum up, Fazerdaze – worth the 7-hour drive and my appreciation continues. Spoon – knows how to play a live show and has the chops to bring the Pixies to the stage. The Pixies – I like them better live. The Salt Shed – a really nice outdoor venue (weather-dependent). Oh, and the demographic? Pretty darned old. We are getting old.