The Pixies this week

There is a mindset out there which laments the fact that great bands reunite, that somehow their legacy or greatness will be diminished by some lucrative gigs years after the band truly meant something. There are different cases to be made for this. The Sex Pistols, for one, was a clear example of a band in it for the money and John Lydon never disguised this fact. The Velvet Underground reunion in the 1990's was another case of milking it given the fractious nature of the live shows. Bands that choose to disregard the notion that you should never go back rarely make much of a creative splash - the creative spark has been lost and the lust for lucre supercedes everything else.
Few bands sculpted the American underground scene like The Pixies. They've become such a byword for cool and their name has been so readily disseminated as an influence that it's almost surprising to remember that they just released four albums before implosion. Quite what to expect next week then when they play 3 sold out shows from Wednesday to Friday is open to conjecture. Sure it's a 'Doolittle' show, but will they treat the songs as though they were merely a cover band going through the motions, or is that spark still alive?