\n<\/p>\n
Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> remembers her life in two parts: before she heard the Breeders\u2019 \u201cCannonball,\u201d and after, she told the crowd at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, when her Guts World Tour<\/a> arrived in New York.<\/p>\n And that is how the \u201990s alt-rock idols came to play the New York arena for the first time last week, 31 years after that song from their platinum 1993 album, \u201cLast Splash,\u201d charted on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100.<\/p>\n Rodrigo\u2019s camp initially approached the Breeders in September about opening some dates on the tour supporting her second album, \u201cGuts<\/a>.\u201d \u201cMy first reaction was, Wow, that seems kind of odd,\u201d the band\u2019s bassist, Josephine Wiggs, said in an interview. \u201cBut after I\u2019d thought about it for a while, I thought, \u2018That\u2019s actually really genius.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Kim Deal, the singer-guitarist who leads the band with her twin sister, Kelley, said she was surprised when they got the invite. \u201cI\u2019d heard \u2018Drivers License,\u2019<\/a> and I liked that a lot,\u201d she said, referring to Rodrigo\u2019s breakout 2021 smash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Kelley wondered if it might be a mistake. \u201cI thought, \u2018Is she sure? Do they really mean us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But Rodrigo made her enthusiasm clear when the shows were confirmed, reaching out personally to share her excitement. \u201cShe texted each one of us individually,\u201d Kelley recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd said, \u2018Really happy to hear that you\u2019re going to do this,\u2019\u201d Wiggs added. \u201cVery classy.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from Kim, who played Madison Square Garden in 1992 when her earlier band, Pixies, opened for U2, no one in the group had ever performed at the venue before. Kim hadn\u2019t been back since, and said she had no memory of that previous gig: \u201cI usually remember the bad shows, so it\u2019s a good thing that I really don\u2019t remember that one.\u201d<\/p>\n With the first date in the books, the Breeders<\/a> spent part of Saturday afternoon glimpsing Rodrigo\u2019s soundcheck \u2014 she was belting \u201cBallad of a Homeschooled Girl\u201d to an empty arena \u2014 and then briefly chatting with her. \u201cSo easy to talk to!\u201d Kim reported as the Breeders headed up to the stage to adjust their own amps and pedals. The lights were up; two men vacuumed the previous night\u2019s pink and purple star-shaped confetti.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHow about we do a piece of \u2018Cannonball,\u2019<\/a> like when everything comes in?\u201d Kim asked the band, which also includes the drummer Jim Macpherson. They had already tested the distorted ahh-ooohh-ahh <\/em>vocalizations that open the song. Kim blew a whistle to emulate the record\u2019s microphone feedback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Rodrigo was born a decade after the release of \u201cCannonball,\u201d but the 21-year-old heard it as a teenager and remembers \u201cinstantly falling in love with the Breeders,\u201d she wrote in an email. \u201cI thought Kim was the coolest girl in the world,\u201d Rodrigo said. \u201cI\u2019m very inspired by them and everything they stand for. They are absolutely iconic, and playing these shows with them has been a surreal honor.\u201d (The Breeders have joined the tour for four shows at the Garden that wrap on Tuesday, and four more at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles later this summer.)<\/p>\n Mischief, wryness, confidence and camaraderie feel encoded into the poised riffs and bass line of \u201cCannonball,\u201d and it\u2019s easy to imagine girls gently headbanging along to it for eternity. Rodrigo went louder and crunchier on \u201cGuts,\u201d long inspired by artists who are \u201cnot trying to recreate a version of rock music that guys make,\u201d as she told The New York Times<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Soundcheck proceeded like a supercut. \u201cShould we do half of \u2018Do You Love Me Now\u2019?\u201d Kim asked before crashing the song open and letting its twin harmonies ring out. \u201cA little piece of \u2018Drivin\u2019 on 9\u2019?\u201d signaling the aching country tune. \u201cShould we throw in \u2018Gigantic\u2019?\u201d Kim asked before unleashing the titanic anthem she co-wrote and sang as a member of Pixies. (She dedicated its \u201cbig, big love\u201d to Rodrigo during the show.)<\/p>\n Earlier, the band sat in a green room processing its Guts experience so far. Kelley had been impressed by the emotional arc of Rodrigo\u2019s songs the previous night. \u201cI was texting somebody, \u2018I\u2019m so empowered right now!\u2019\u201d She later reached out to praise Rodrigo\u2019s voice as \u201creally special,\u201d observing, \u201cHer tone and control are spectacular!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe performs with a really good sense of humor,\u201d Kim added.<\/p>\n Wiggs said she could hear some Breeders commonalties in a Rodrigo chord progression, while Macpherson detected a bit of the band in \u201cJealousy, Jealousy,\u201d<\/a> from her first album, \u201cSour.\u201d \u201cThe bass riff was almost like a \u2018Hag,\u2019<\/a> \u2018Hellbound\u2019<\/a>-ish kind of thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Breeders expressed shock at how young Rodrigo\u2019s fans were, and the collective decibel of their screams on Friday night. \u201cYou\u2019re going to be surprised by how loud it was,\u201d Kelley said. Weren\u2019t their own amps loud, too? \u201cNot louder than 30,000 tweens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Kim roasted her bandmates for withholding stage banter the night before. \u201cLooking out at the sea of 7- and 8-year-olds, I had no idea what to say,\u201d Wiggs said, deadpan. \u201cI could just about manage to say something to people who are obviously teenagers. I was like, OK, maybe I\u2019ll try to make eye contact with the dads.\u201d<\/p>\n The Deal sisters are no strangers to parental accompaniment at gigs. \u201cMy dad used to have Ray Charles in his headphones, watching us play, when he drove us around in the r.v. with Nirvana,\u201d Kim said, referring to the band\u2019s 1992 tour with what was then the biggest band on Earth. \u201cHe\u2019d have his cassette Walkman,\u201d Kelley added. \u201cHe was a big supporter, but he\u2019d heard us a million times.\u201d<\/p>\n In Kurt Cobain\u2019s liner notes to Nirvana\u2019s 1992 compilation \u201cIncesticide,\u201d he detailed the recent life experiences that had meant the most to him since \u201cbecoming an untouchable boy genius,\u201d including \u201cplaying with the Breeders\u201d on the list. \u201cNirvana and Foo Fighters would really curate their opening bands, which is I think what Olivia is doing in a way, curating new music that she wants fans to get to know,\u201d Kelley said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Most of the young people watching from the front rows on Saturday were not familiar with the Breeders \u2014 who are all in their 50s and 60s \u2014 though there were exceptions. \u201cMy parents know who they are!\u201d exclaimed an 18-year-old fan named Mack. \u201cMy dad said they had some jams back when he was younger. He didn\u2019t know if I would like them, but I trust Olivia.\u201d<\/p>\n Another fan, Elle, 16, was with her father, who saw the Breeders at Lollapalooza alongside Smashing Pumpkins and the Beastie Boys. \u201cFor me, this was really cool,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know the tour\u2019s other openers as well, but I\u2019ve loved the Breeders since \u201994 when I saw them last.\u201d<\/p>\n