Alternative bands Modest Mouse and Pixies graced the stage at Walmart AMP in the blazing heat on June 28. Opening with Cat Power at 6:30 p.m., Modest Mouse made it to the stage for an hour and 15 minute set at 7:30 p.m.

The expansive and ambitious sounds of indie rock carried throughout the stage as the starting song “The Stars Are Projectors” played. The 2000 song was the first of the two tracks off the album “The Moon & Antarctica” performed with “Gravity Rides Everything” toward the end of their show.

“The View” was the first song played off of “Good News For People Who Love Bad News” bringing introspective lyrics to a classic sound.

Viewers in the crowd sat contently, grooving side to side in their place as songs such as “Cowboy Dan” and a cover of The Cure’s “A Forest” played on stage. It wasn’t until the fan favorite and most streamed song for the ensemble, “Float On,” that people got up and danced to the beat.

Going into this set, expectations were high based on that song, but the clarity of the vocals hardly transferred throughout the amphitheater to meet those expectations. The set had strong instrumentation, but the words sung or spoken seemingly were muffled to the ear.

After the 14 song set from Modest Mouse and a brief transition, the Pixies took the stage.

Contrasting from the ending song of “Fuck Your Acid Trip,” the Pixies began their time on stage with the classic alternative rock sound of their song “U-Mass.”

The most shocking lyrics came off the opening number along with “Nimrod’s Son,” which both painted clearly passionate pictures through their lyrical iterations.

“Wave of Mutilation” was the first of eight “Doolittle” songs played. The raw energetic and quirky hit album ruled the set list conveying dark themes with its innovative sound. 

For hits, performances of “Monkey Gone to Heaven” and “Where Is My Mind?” were crowd pleasers.

Along with Pixies classics, a few covers made the stage. They performed a rendition of The Jesus and Mary Chain song “Head On,” a Peter Ivers & David Lynch cover of “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” and ending the night with a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong.”

The Pixies also performed a new song, “Vegas Suite,” that has only appeared on tour and is not available to stream online yet, making the live experience ultra unique.

There was limited commentary throughout the 25 song setlist, which would have been 26 if there weren’t repeated mess ups from the band at the start of “Motorway to Roswell.” Although the set was not overtly as hype-filled as some of the other performances to come out of the Walmart AMP, the Pixies set was certainly still filled with quality.