The Breeders

Albert Hall, Manchester - 26th June 2023

It was late September last year when The Breeders saw their iconic album, Last Splash, remastered and reissued in a 30th anniversary analogue edition with bonus tracks. It was a pretty package and the band played some dates in the USA to celebrate its release. We assume that their current flit through the UK is ostensibly to support the same cause despite it being nine months now since the record was released. Whatever the reason we don't really care. The classic Breeders' line-up of Kim Deal, Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson (the line-up that created Last Splash) is back together and we wouldn't miss seeing them for the world. There have been many times when we thought this would never happen; the band's troubles have been well documented, but we squeeze into a completely rammed Albert Hall with 2,200 other folk more excited for a gig than we can remember for a long time.

Of course, The Breeders were all about validation. Having had her songs stupidly vetoed by Pixies' main man Frank Black, the band was originally an outlet for Kim Deal to get her music heard. The release of Pod by 4AD in 1990 was an affirmation that her songwriting skills and musical ideology were so potent they could not be ignored. It was a wonderful, obfuscating record of glorious post-punk experimentation that was both thrilling and worrying, dark and a little bit darker. If Kim felt justified in believing her music was worthy of being heard, 1993's Last Splash was fucking monster validation, underscored with red marker pen and sprinkled with five different shades of glitter. This was not only another jewel of experimentation and exploration, it flowed over with commercial appeal in way that is so rare in such an obviously alternative record. It was a work of life-affirming brilliance, nothing less, and it was a tragedy that problems then intervened and the band split for nearly two decades. Having reunited to celebrate twenty years of Last Splash in 2012, they went on to record All Nerve in 2018, but both live dates and new recordings have been sparse since then.

But here we are, in a packed Manchester venue on one of the hottest days of the year and it is a little sultry. The excellent Big Joanie open the evening's entertainment and we won't say "warmed up" as that was certainly not required. Already the venue staff are handing out water as if there is a drought; they keep this up all evening which is great to see. This would never have happened back in the day when those who passed out in the heat were generally just dragged to the side. The Breeders take to the stage and the wall of applause that greets them is remarkable. They look touched. These sold-out dates are further affirmation of the band's importance and it clearly brings them considerable pleasure. One of the joys of this band is that they seem just like your mates. They don't dress for the occasion; they could have just walked in off the street and they chat as if they had seen you just the other week. They joke about, make paper aeroplanes out of their set lists and the way Kim curtseys after a song has received rapturous applause is so endearing. She also doesn't just have a set list on a single sheet, she has about six sheets all taped together as if the band intend to play all night.

And we wish they had. Mates or not, when The Breeders open up with 'Saints' with its looping riff and stop and start kinetics they immediately grasp the audience by the insides and refuse to let go. No amount of matey humility can disguise the fact that this band are very good indeed and for the next hour and twenty we are treated to a gripping set that varies from the brutal to the plaintive, with speed enough to get the audience bouncing. That they are moving throughout the set in the oppressive heat is no small achievement; the band seem slightly better off with Kelley Deal having a large fan blasting into her face all evening so that her hair trails behind her like Superman's cape. It probably stuck like that. There's another fan at the other end of the stage, though Josephine Wiggs really doesn't need it, being the epitome of cool. Jim Macpherson seems oblivious; he's having the time of his life, laughing, introducing the band and drumming like a bastard. And Kim is simply remarkable, always raising a smile as she suddenly stops walking away from her mic to charge back up to it just in time for the next line. She's a superstar with none of the attached superinflated ego.

We are treated to ten songs from Last Splash, which is ostensibly why we are here, with four added from Pod, three from All Nerve, two from Title TK, one from Mountain Battles, one from the Safari EP, and a cover of Pixies' 'Gigantic', which ends the main set with much hullabaloo. There is of course a downside with the band dropping 'Iris' from their set at Leeds and failing to reinstate it for those of us who consider it to be the band's finest moment. There's another song, 'Disobedience' which may be a new one. New songs are all good and a new album would be very welcome. With an accompanying tour. Apart from that one horrible blip, this is the most enjoyable gig we have seen for an age. The Breeders are everything we love and it is nice to see they are still everything they ever have been.

Set List: Saints, Wait in the Car, Doe, Invisible Man, Safari, When I Was a Painter, Night of Joy, Disobedience, No Aloha, Huffer, Off You, Hag, I Just Wanna Get Along, Only in 3s, Do You Love Me Now?, New Year, Cannonball, Drivin' on 9, Opened, MetaGoth, Gigantic. Encore: Walking With a Killer, Divine Hammer.