Over the past few months, The National has booked some of music's most interesting acts, including MGMT and Queens of the Stone Age. Gracing the stage in January is the pioneering 1990s Boston alt-rock band, The Pixies. With popular albums such as Surfer Rosa and Trompe le Monde, Black Francis, David Lovering, Joey Santiago and Kim Deal crafted surf-rock songs that drift between vicious noise rock and soothing psychedelic sounds. The band recently hired a new bass player, Paz Lenchantin, after Deal left abruptly in June 2013 and her replacement, Kim Shattuck of The Muffs, got the ax as the band prepared for its 33-city tour. Tickets to the Jan. 29 show, originally $45, sold out in a couple of days, though re-sale sites have been offering them for $127 to $500. Maybe vigilant fans will luck out. 8 p.m. 612-1900 or thenationalva.com.
