Of the many things Riot Fest is special for, getting bands to play seminal albums in full is high on their achievement totem pole.
This year alone there are seven album plays scheduled, one of the most anticipated being The Breeders offering “Last Splash” to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ‘90s-defining disc (so much so that even alternative era contemporaries like Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon were seen watching from the stage wings during the band’s Friday afternoon set).
“We are here to play an album that came out in 1993, from beginning to end, even the slow songs that are too weird to play live,” said Kim Deal to start things off. “You’re lucky enough to hear them today.”
Sure enough, things “got weird” on the droney “Roi” in which bassist Josephine Wiggs and drummer Jim MacPherson switched places; following it, Kim’s twin, Kelley Deal, got her moment to shine, taking vocal lead on “I Just Wanna Get Along.”
Following the order of songs on the album, uber hit “Cannonball” came second in the performance, before which Kim Deal shouted “Viva Mexico” into the mic to mark Mexican Independence Day on Saturday.
The song’s distorted vocal effects were a total throwback moment as elder Riot fans dug out their phones to capture the memory.
The Breeders also logged a few off-album tunes including 2017’s “Wait In The Car” and 1990’s “Iris, though they skipped “Go Man Go” and “Divine Mascis,” the two recently unearthed, original analog tape tracks that are now part of the “Last Splash” 30th anniversary edition due out on 4AD next week.
