On Jan. 31, University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Frank Black, frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, brought his “Teenager of the Year” 30th anniversary tour to the Citizens House of Blues in Boston. The tour consisted of 11 North American dates and two European dates, accompanied by a 30th anniversary re-release of the album.
“Teenager of the Year” was Black’s second solo studio album, released in 1994. The record came a year after Black announced the Pixies’ sudden split in a radio interview. With 22 tracks and lyrics like “What we need is more silly men,” listeners get a sense of Black’s creative liberty and playful attitude.
Before Black and the original “Teenager of the Year” band began their nearly two hour set, Brooklyn rock musician Reid Paley took the stage with his trio, warming up the rain-soaked audience with his Tom Waits-like vocals and entertaining storytelling. Paley, a friend of Black’s, collaborated with him on their studio album Paley & Francis, released in Oct. 2011.
Black begins his set with energetic performances of “Czar” and “Ten Percenter,” two songs from his 1993 self-titled album. The intimate setting of the House of Blues made for a special night, as Black’s often sarcastic commentary punctuated each song, offering explanations behind the tunes and giving the audience a glimpse into his creative process. It was rare to see Black so talkative, since he tends to stay relatively silent during Pixies shows, which he played to audiences as big as 13,000 last summer.
From these longer anecdotes, Black’s Boston origins are apparent. He tells stories from childhood summers in Hyannis on what his father called “cigarette butt beach,” referenced in the song “Whatever Happened to Pong?” and explains that “Speedy Marie” of the eponymous track “used to bartend right next door” to the House of Blues. Sometimes, though, Black can’t explain himself. Before hurdling into “(I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain,” he admits, “I’m kind of a pretentious guy. I write songs that have titles, and I don’t know what they mean.”
The crowd is largely populated by middle-aged men, no doubt taking the opportunity to relive their own teenage years. As the upbeat, melodic “Headache” plays, the crowd’s energy is infectious; everyone is up and dancing. Black’s banter takes on a self-aware tone as he pokes fun at his teenage years and the silliness of early adulthood. Looking back on the creation of “Headache,” he reveals, “Eric Idle from Monty Python almost ended up playing on this song, but he had too many Heinekens that day.”
The silliness did not end there. With song titles like “Fiddle Riddle” and “The Hostess with the Mostest,” an unserious air was almost inevitable. Black invited the audience into his personal universe of interests, spanning from The Three Stooges to Big Red gum. The set was imbued with a pure, youthful energy. What was most clear, however, was Black’s thoughtful lyricism and impressive way of combining a wide array of ideas into a single work. One minute, he is singing about the shortening of humanity’s collective attention span, and the next, about the colonization of Mars.
Later in the show, Black and the band transition into what Black calls his “deep cuts,” which veer from the consistency of the first 11 tracks off the album. Though each song differs sonically from the last, neither the band nor the crowd has any problem adjusting. First, the crowd is headbanging to “Bad Wicked World,” and not long after, they are following Black’s orders to “Lift up your voice and sing with glee” during “Pie in the Sky.” Following the “Teenager of the Year” album, Black wraps up his set with three more popular tracks off his self-titled record.
You can hear Black talk in-depth about “Teenager of the Year” on the 30th anniversary “Teenager of the Year” podcast, hosted by Mark Beaumont and available on YouTube
Riley Greenberg can be reached at [email protected].
