I missed them when they came to Eugene.

I missed them when they came to Bend.

But I finally saw the Pixies when they came to the Roseland Theater last Friday. While the reunion tour may be soooo mid-2004, I don't care. After years of listening to bootlegs and "Death to the Pixies," I finally managed to see the band live and it was...

...ok, I guess.

Let's be honest, the Pixies may as well be working the same nostalgia circuit as the various incarnations of Credence Clearwater Renewal and Lynyrd Skynyrd, all be it at clubs and festivals instead of state fairgrounds (and with the all the original members still above ground and along for the ride).

Years ago I saw the Rolling Stones in Seattle and Friday night felt much the same. While the Pixies are still a few decades short of the geriatric, "'Satisfcation' was really 40 years ago? No way!" Stones, it felt like the Pixies were going through the same "we're only doing this because the side projects aren't paying the bills" motions. The songs all sounded great, sure, but exactly like they do on the albums.

Aside from Kim Deal's cover of "In Heaven," the theme song from Eraserhead, and a feedback solo compliments of Joey Santiago, there wasn't a moment of spontaneity. While Frank Black/Black Francis' voice still hits the same heights it did on the Pixies' big, influential albums, he may as well have been shrieking "thanks for the $40 bucks" instead of "I wanna grow up to be a debaser." "Gouge away" indeed [rimshot].

And a rushed, single song encore? C'mon.

But this is all lame and tired criticism for a tour like this. The ticket price was worth it, if only for a brief five minutes as Deal stood in a single spotlight for "In Heaven" as the band cut to "Where is My Mind?" The crowd provided back-up and the fog machines made the Roseland look like the interior of a hot-boxed UFO. And when Black sang "smoke some marijuana, if you got some" the crowd totally did.

It was magical, man, magical. As the drunk chick behind me put it, "Kim is probably my mom's age but she still RAWKS!"

The '90s weren't that long ago, were they?