Yahoo! Music Review

Gig played on 17/04/08

The pulling power of history, it seems, is damned impressive. Tonight's crowd - packed in nose-to-neck and practically levitating with pre-gig excitement - is not made up almost exclusively of first-generation Breeders fans, as you might expect, but noticeably younger music lovers, who must have been all of ten in 1993, when their second (definitive) album, "The Last Splash" came out. It's doubtful even the most culturally precocious of pre-teens would remember the title track, "Cannonball", "I Just Wanna Get Along" or "Divine Hammer" - sassy and slightly off-centre, bubblegum-grunge gems each one - and The Breeders' brand new LP, "Mountain Battles" has surfaced only recently.

So what's brought them all here tonight? At a guess - and no disrespect to twin sister Kelley or the other Breeders intended - it's Kim Deal's recently re-booted history with Frank Black, whose idiosyncratic mix of punk, pop, metal, surf guitar and TexMex remains a vital part of the alt-rock handbook. When one slightly misguided soul yells out "Gigantic", that pretty much clinches it. Details aside, no one here will be unaware of how The Breeders fit into the historical scheme of things, alongside Pixies and Nirvana and the Lollapalooza scheme of things, but avant le deluge (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots et al).

They're here, maybe, to pay homage. And rightly so. The Breeders' irresistible pop buoyancy, the quasi-funky centre of their tunes, their enviable fluidity and (dare we say it) feminine melodic grace never once hampered their ability to also kick maximum and gnarly, rock arse, as we are so forcefully reminded tonight. Passing years haven't hardened the trademark mellow roundness of either Kim's or Kelley's voice, nor weakened the divinely soulful anguish of their expression. Neither has it stopped them trading insults with one another onstage or cackling like a couple of conspiratorial kids. Thank heaven.

The new songs sound extraordinary: "Bang On", with its clanging and groovy, Afro-hip hop beats and wailing vocal harmonies; the noir-ish, gorgeously plaintive "Night Of Joy", whose billowing spaces suggest an open bedroom window at midnight; the languidly lapping "We're Gonna Rise", the mighty "Walk It Off" - a bass-heavy, Jesus And Mary Chain-styled stroll through the darklands of slacker doo-wop - and the country-bluegrass duet that is "Here No More", with its simple strumming and rolled, mid-west "R's".

Among these unfamiliar newbies, The Breeders stud plenty of gems, including the aforementioned "Last Splash" - which sparks a sudden outbreak of widespread and enthusiastic lurching - "Iris" and their cover of The Beatles' "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" (both from "Pod") and the cart-wheeling, slow-build fury that is "Safari". The bloke who called out for "Gigantic" was never going to get his wish; Kim Deal might have written one of Pixies' biggest hits, but The Breeders throw a shadow equally as tall.

by Sharon O'Connell