The Breeders at The Garage

The Breeders

The Garage, 23 June 2024

When The Breeders announced this surprise small show to kick off their UK tour I knew I had to go. It's been 16 years since I last saw them, on the Mountain Battles tour in 2008, and that was a very different line-up. Other than the tiny venue, the big appeal this time was this was the iconic line-up that made their biggest and most famous album, and certainly the one that ruled my teen years, Last Splash. I'm happy to say it was every bit as wonderful and joyous as I had hoped it would be.

I arrived early and managed to get a cool spot at the front, almost the same place as when I saw Dinosaur Jr last year, so I knew I was in for a treat. After a really loud DJ set (who I must say played some great tunes), the band thankfully came on stage nicely early (it was a Sunday night afterall) and there was no support act. They are playing the much bigger venue Troxy on Tuesday too supported by Big Joanie, a great all-girl band who I wouldn't have minded seeing live, but I was thankful tonight it was all about The Breeders.

I must say they looked incredible. Kim and Kelley Deal just this month turned 63 but they looked way younger and fresh faced and above all, just incredibly cool. Kim was wearing a short-sleeve black shirt, jeans and Adidas trainers, while Kelly had a ringer t-shirt and cargo trousers. They were both beaming and it gave me hope that getting older might not be such a terrible thing afterall. 

Josephine Wiggs looked her old self too, wearing a cool little brown corduroy jacket despite it being one of the warmest days of the year ("Just checking, is anyone else wearing a corduroy jacket tonight," Kelley asked the audience halfway through the show, to which one guy to my left proudly proclaimed he was too. Kelly shook her head, incredulous that anyone would be wearing a jacket in this heat while Josephine quipped "the best dressed man in the audience, right there.") Jim Macpherson meanwhile was grinning away behind a drumkit that was partially obscured by the Deal sisters' Marshall stacks. Needless to say he looked great too.

They immediately launched into the song Saints, which, with its chorus of "Summer is ready, when you are" seemed very appropriate on this hot, sweaty night. They sounded fantastic, perfectly gelling together in sound but always on that edge of just falling apart, which made every single song exciting. 

After playing Wait In The Car, from the last record All Nerve (the first album with this reunited line-up since Last Splash), things got really emotional for me when they delved further back into their back catalogue, with an energetic Doe from their debut album Pod and there a truly glorious Safari, maybe my favourite ever Breeders song. It was amazing to hear them all harmonise on it and hear it with Josephine's classic bass giving it that special sound.

They've always played a lot of Last Splash live, understandably as it is their most famous record, but I don't think when I've seen them previously they've ever played so much of it, tonight giving us no less than 10 songs from that classic album, including an absolutely joyful version of Drivin' On 9 their Ed's Redeeming Qualities cover, that gives me my country fix for the night and makes my heart so happy seeing Kim's beaming face as she sings it and strums her acoustic guitar.

They said they had a song (called Disobedience on the setlist) they had never played live before and it had a bit of an amusingly shambolic start, with Kim and Kelly trying to figure out what they were doing wrong, but once they got going it was so much fun seeing them playing it for the first time, the song almost falling apart several times. I'm sure as the tour goes on they will get a lot more adept at playing it but there was something so wonderful seeing them finding their feet playing it for the first time.

For the song Off You (one of only two from the Mountain Battles album played tonight, there were only three songs in all played from the non-Josephine/Jim years), Kim told us this would be a double bass song, as you can never get enough bass, and Kelley swapped her guitar for a bass and crouched on the ground playing along with Josephine, reading what looked like the musical notation. Maybe she doesn't know the song yet and still needs a little guidance but it made me happy to see her playing the bass and looking so intently and seriously at what she was doing. The song sounded great too.

We were told that it was in fact Jim Macpherson's birthday today and the crowd spontaneously burst into singing Happy Birthday to him, which was lovely. At one point he came out from behind the drum kit so I could actually see him, and he told us he last played The Garage over 20 years ago with Guided By Voices. Kim later said, "I bet you didn't get to play with GBV on your birthday! This is much more special." How true! Josephine also showed her a magnet of a grilled cheese sandwich, saying she had bought it for Jim for his birthday as he collects them. "And if you want to read more about Jim's magnet collection, you can read all about it in the latest issue of The Breeders' Digest, available on the merch table." I did see it there to buy and was almost tempted on this fact alone.

"Kelley wants to sing a song for ya," Kim said, and a beautifully badass Kelley steps up to the mike and sings a brilliantly snarling version I Just Wanna Get Along. 

Cannonball came surprisingly midset, and I know it's been overplayed over the years, but it was pretty incredible to hear it played by the original line-up, and see and hear Josephine playing that amazing bass part. Kim also went wild with the distorted vocals so it sounded fantastically fuzzed up and grungier than the recorded version. 

Their cover of The Beatles' Happiness Is Warm Gun still sounds way better than the original (don't shoot me, it's just an opinion!) to my humble, Kim Deal-loving ears and I get the feeling they still have a ball playing it live. 

Then Kim swapped her guitar for a bass, which is always a thrill to see as she did make her name afterall playing bass and generally being the best part of The Pixies. Josephine tells us that she came into rehearsal one day and Kim was playing bass and decided she wanted to record it that way, and instead asked Josephine to write the lyrics to the song. So for MetaGoth, Josephine plays guitar and sings and we get to see Kim playing bass. It seems everyone gets a chance to play bass in this band and it's seriously badass!

The biggest surprise, for me at least, to end the show, Kim keeps the bass on and suddenly launching into that instantly familiar bassline from The Pixies' glory years, Gigantic. This is a song so good that I think it's the reason why Frank Black probably never allowed Kim to write much more for The Pixies, as his fragile ego was so unnerved (I'm speculating obviously). Apparently The Breeders have played it live before over the years, particularly on their 2018 tour, but I've never seen them play it before so it was incredibly exciting, especially seeing it performed up close. Obviously I've seen Kim play it in The Pixies too, back when she was in the band, but there was something so much more exuberant and natural seeing her play it with her own band and yes, it sounded absolutely triumphant and wonderful.

This of course left everyone on a high so the audience cheered and cheered for an encore and, although I'm generally down on encores these days, thankfully this time we got one. It started off a little more low-key with Walking With A Killer from the last record, but then went pure joy, with Invisible Man and, of course, Divine Hammer, which had everyone singing along. 

What an absolute joy to see The Breeders again and see that perfect line-up reunited. It's also so deserving to see the likes of pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo embracing them and getting the band to open for her on so many of her arena shows, hopefully introducing their new to new generations. But I must say it truly something special to see them in an intimate venue like this and see close up just how wonderful they continue to be.