I've been a Pixies fan for a while now, but I was too young to catch their first go-round, and I somehow stupidly missed their prior reunion tour, so their performance of great sophomore album Doolittle (plus b-sides!) at the sold-out Paramount last night was a real thrill.

The band came out to huge applause, Deal chirped that they were going to play some b-sides, and with they launched into "Dancing the Manta Ray" with a feedback-soaked riff and a little yelp from Frank Black. Their faces were darkened with shadow for the first song. They played "Weird at School," and you could see Kim Deal laughing after the songs two opening crescendos—the whole band looked to be having a good time, but Deal was smiling wide pretty much the whole night. She announced, "We're gonna play some more b-sides. Have you guys heard any of these b-sides? This next one we all had to learn," before launching into "Bailey's Walk," which Black sang with a mightily constipated howl. The finished their little warm-up b-sides set with the sing-songy, upbeat "Manta Ray."

And then! Doolittle! For this part of the set, I'm just going to update this song-by-song run-through with my reactions from the show. Here we go:

1. "Debaser": You can't start an album much better than with those 16 bass notes, that searing, circling guitar chord, and that annunciatory drum fill—and of course the whole song unfolds into something amazing, Frank Black howling mad (about Luis Buñuel, etc.), Kim Deal heavenly and weightless, rhythm relentless and upbeat, guitar hook simple and irresistible.

Deal's background vocals seem a little off-time, but this song is still unstoppably euphoric. Here is where I start wearing a grin that'll pretty much be beaming the entire show (I can't remember the last show that had me smiling so much.)

2. "Tame": Lots to love here—guitars flayed out over an anxiously groovy bass line—but best of all is Black's ragged breathing of the verses and on the bridge, so uncomfortably close and predatory that you can practically feel the hot, wet panting on the back of your neck.

Black's barks may not be what they once were, but this still rips.

3. "Wave of Mutilation": Morbid surf rock at its big, wide-screen best.

I have no notes on this song.

4. "I Bleed": Epic, endlessly climbing song, Deal's background vocals echoing Black's to chilling effect, lyrics typically gothic and surreal.

The guitars seem like kind of an aweseome/awful mess on this song, way more bloody and sloppy than on record. There are these sort of white Bucky Balls joined by tubes floating above and behind the band, and they sort of sag and hover and move around. Weird, but maybe not as weird as you'd expect from the pixies.

5. "Here Comes Your Man": The lyrics are something about hopping boxcars, but the sentiment and the song's gushing titular refrain sound like pure romantic love.

Deal, introducing the song: "We're still on the first side!" (All of her banter—and she was the only one who talked last night—was this kind of walking-the-crowd-through-the-record stuff.) For this one, the video screen behind the band shows the four band members in tight-cropped close-ups, bopping their heads or fidgeting along to a rhythm that doesn't match the one the band onstage is playing; at the end of the song, the four on-screen Pixies all stand up and walk off. This song is amazing, maybe the most romantic thing my 18 year-old self had ever heard.

The rest of the show and more photos (by Kelly O) after the jump.

6. "Dead": Joey Santiago's barbed-wire guitar just shreds Black rightly to death here, making that first wide-eyed chorus sound even stranger.

Man, that chorus is just the most oddly uplifting thing ever. That fucking riff!

7. "Monkey Gone to Heaven": Ecological apocalyptica, God and the devil, a string section—all saved from being a pompous mess by almost-rapped, sinisterly singsong verses, Deal's serene delivery of the verse, and a guitar solo every bit deserving of the corny, indelible ad-lib "rock me, Joe."

Deal: "That's one side!" I never realized this, but "Monkey Gone to Heaven" is a pretty necessary reprieve after the more manic songs of side one, although of course it gets wild at its own tempo on the pre-chorus, crowd screaming along, "then GAWWWWD is seven!"

8. "Mr. Grieves": A drowned man's sea chantey (as circle pit) long before zombie pirates were fashionable, with a lullaby chorus and a burlesque coda.

The screen shows a swinging, old-timey nautical lightbulb. It suddenly occurs to me that opener Kyp Malone's other band did a oddball barber-shop quartet cover version of this song, so this pairing is kind of closing a loop of sorts. Deal sings a great harmony on this one.

9. "Crackity Jones": A wild tear of a punk-rock song, in which Black transforms into a demon Chihuahua. Yip, yip.

The video has turned anachronistic and cheesy, with some kind of rapidly animated hangman rag doll running around on the last song and sad, broken baby dolls and marionettes on this one; it's a bit Matt Pinfield-era 120 Minutes, although I'm probably only thinking of Pinfield because of Black's resemblance. For some reason, this "Crackity Jones" seems really flat and anemic live even though its about the most feral thing on the album. Huh.

10. "La La Love You": Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. David Lovering, an actual magician.

Deal, introducing the song: "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. David Lovering." Hey, sometimes I just call 'em like that. This song is adorable, the videos screen is all anthropomorphic and anatomical hearts chasing each other around. Lovering's voice starts giving out a bit towards the end of the song, but we don't mind. Now, by the way, would be a fine time to mention that Lovering and the rest of the band have all been locked in tight all night. Black and Deal might get all the mic time, but Lovering and Santiago really get to strut their shit live, and they're as vital to the band as anything.

11. "No. 13 Baby": Great breakbeat, guitars splayed wide, Black whining lustily, song rolling out for its entire second half on one steady jam with plenty of space for Santiago's squealing guitar figures.

Deal: "Now we're getting to the deeper cuts...difficult, awkward. Not really." The strummy, sapcey outro on this song ("I'm in/a state") is narcotic.

12. "There Goes My Gun": Yo ho, a sad punk's life for me. An absolutely elevating chorus. Here comes your man, there goes his gun—sly.

Black screaming that "yo ho!" could've inspired the Murder City Devils' entire career.

13. "Hey": Speaking of, Black may be a bit of a freak—all these Old Testament whores and chains and whatnot—but damn if this song doesn't make you want to meet him, biblically.

Deal: "Now all the beers are gone from fridge, all the cool people have gone home." Jesus, this is just an incredibly sexy song.

14. "Silver": Hey, nobody's perfect.

This song, however, is a total boner-killer.

15. "Gouge Away": A restless, roiling closer, all locked-in groove, guitars ringing like a migraine aura, Black screaming exhausted, Deal subliminally humming—a climactic washing out.

The video shows a slow pan of the crowd, and it's kind of sweet to watch one face after another realize, in slow-motion, that they're on camera and start to smile or pull a funny face just as the camera pans on past them.

The band end their proper set with a gratuitously long (but wholly deserved) bow, backed up by their likenesses bowing behind them on the video screen. The room goes dark—this is the most obvious, obligatory encore maybe ever—and the sound of a guitar being tuned plays loud over the soundsystem like it's been pre-recorded just to drive the point of the situation home.

They come out for the encore, and Deal announces brightly: "More b-sides!" The lights go Purple Tape purple and the band plays the sweet, languorous "Uk Surf" version of "Wave of Mutilation." Then bright, strobing white lights flare on behind the band and smoke spills out engulfing the stage, and the band play the euphoric, Deal-led "Into the White."

For their second encore (yes!), Deal announces: "These ones aren't on the record. Thanks for coming, it's a beautiful place." The house lights come up as if to illuminate just how beautiful the Paramount really is, and the band launches into icy-cool early track "Caribou." Then they play "Vamos," stretching out its bridge so that Santiago can spin off a couple seared guitar solos. For one of these, Lovering tosses a drumstick to Santiago, which the guitarist then uses to play some feedback slides on a guitar resting in a stand on the stage floor. After that one, Black smiles and shrugs at Santiago as if to say, yeah do one more, and Santiago obliges with his wankiest lick yet, practically the national anthem. And then they went out with fucking "Gigantic," Deal sounding sweet, the chorus spiraling dizzy—a big, big finish. They do one more bow, during which Lovering—an actual magician—waves his hands over his drums in a kind of "no strings attached" gesture. Maybe not, but that show was magic.

The Pixies play Doolittle at the Paramount again tonight, this time bolstered by LA fuzz punks No Age.