Frank Black of Pixies at Factory International, 25.05.26

Last year I was fortunate enough to be asked to shoot Pixies at Manchester Apollo. An iconic band at an iconic venue, and where I’d seen Pixies for the first time about 13 years before. They’re one of my longterm favourite bands – the only band of whose album cover I have a tattoo! And while I’m very proud of the photos from that night- one is even in the print store – I remember being incredibly nervous when the evening came round.

However here we are in 2026, and I was asked again to cover the band – this time, it was Pixies at Factory International, one of the more recent venues in Manchester and part of the larger Aviva Studios. I’ve been here before to shoot The Hives and to visit the David Hockney exhibition – it’s a great venue (though the bigger room is just that – it’s perhaps too massive!). Pixies would be in the slightly smaller auditorium, offering some seated tickets too, which felt more manageable to sell out over two nights and to really fill the room.

It was ace.

The support act was GANS, a band from Birmingham who have become known recently for energetic live performances. They lived up to that – drums and bass on opposite sides of the stage, with a multi-instrumentalist (flute, synth, saxophone – all the same person) in the middle. It was a big stage for a smaller band but their energy went down very well with the pre-headline crowd. Nice one GANS.

The main event was up at 8.45: the second night of Pixies at Factory International. They apparently played a mostly-different set from the night before, which is testament to how many absolute tunes they have in their back catalogue. Hearing “Crackity Jones” and “I’ve Been Tired” in the first few songs is not a bad start at all!