Pixies Tickets at King John's Castle

1986, Boston – a year, a city... spawning one of alternative music’s greatest pioneers. One of the most distinctive sounds and voices in music, influencers of multiple generations of musicians, four decades on (and counting...).

A volatile mix of jagged guitars, outlandish lyrics, and sudden bursts of rhythm and melody. Loud/quiet... Pixies.

Originating in Boston, embraced first by the UK, now adored worldwide. To mark forty years of the band: founding members Black Francis, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering, with bassist Emma Richardson, announce Pixies 40, a new headline worldwide tour. First announcing shows in the UK and Europe across May, June & July 2026.

From their earliest club shows, the band exuded a combination of chaos and control that left audiences wide-eyed. No glamour, little stage banter; just a relentless surge of sound that resonated deeply. For many fans, those early gigs were less concerts than revelations—a glimpse into a new way rock music could be performed.

1987’s mini-album 'Come On Pilgrim' (following the release of 'Demos'—more commonly known as 'The Purple Tapes'—reissued in October 2025) introduced the world to their fragmented, surreal songwriting. 1988’s 'Surfer Rosa' made critics and underground audiences realize that Pixies were doing something entirely new. Recorded with raw precision, these early albums captured the explosive dynamics already present in their concerts. Songs jumped between whispered calm and thunderous eruptions; the same jolts audiences were feeling in dimly lit venues across Europe and back home in the US.

1989’s 'Doolittle' moved the needle. That album, packed with pop hooks twisted into strange, menacing shapes, brought Pixies onto larger stages and into the consciousness of a wider public. Their shows grew more frenetic, audiences swelling and surging in rhythm with the music—a direct reflection of the tension and release encoded in their songs.

By the early 1990s, the Pixies were in their groove. Relentless touring across North America and Europe became essential for fans of alternative rock. A wall of sound that was never predictable, shifting between fragility and violence in seconds. A band who needed no spectacle or theatrics—just an intensity of sudden release. The music was the show.

Fan favourites 'Bossanova' (1990) and 'Trompe le Monde' (1991) followed, before the disbanding of the group in 1993.

Over a decade passed before Pixies finally reformed in 2004. The response was electric—tickets for their first shows sold out instantly, culminating in an unprecedented crowd at Coachella festival. More touring followed, in much larger rooms than ever before. The reunion reaffirmed their reputation as a live act. If anything, their performances had grown sharper. Multiple generations of fans from different backgrounds embraced Pixies’ genre-defining sets: those who had been there in the late ’80s and early ’90s, those who never had the chance the first time around, and even those not yet born when the band first emerged.

Since re-formation, the band have been even more prolific, releasing more music than in their original run: 'Indie Cindy', 'Head Carrier', 'Beneath the Eyrie', 'Doggerel', and 'The Night the Zombies Came' (2014–2024).

Recent years have seen the band routinely touring the globe with their own sold-out headline shows and festival appearances alike, while still being cited as a major influence on contemporary alternative artists and bands.