The Pixies this afternoon formally launched their new live concert series with a free giveaway of the band’s 2004 set at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Download it here.

Last night, the Pixies played Santiago’s Teatro La Cupula, their first-ever headlining date in Chile, and proceeded to celebrate the successful rescue of all 33 miners by playing an epic 33-song set (plus a two-song encore) that’s being billed as the longest set they’ve ever played.

The American arm of Beggars Banquet is launching a new line of stripped-down, budget-priced vinyl reissues from artists such as The Fall and The Cult, in addition to releasing some older best-of sets from the likes of the Pixies and Love and Rockets on 12-inch for the first time.

This week’s new releases include ‘Acoustic & Electric Live,’ a new concert Blu-ray from the Pixies; ’25: The Very Best Of,’ a new 2CD compilation from a-ha; and ‘Fidelity!,’ the debut from Chrissie Hynde’s new project JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys.

Beggars Archive is readying a major This Mortal Coil re-release campaign, featuring a new 4CD box set, individual vinyl and CD reissues of the 4AD collective’s three studio albums, and a hi-def Blu-ray release that collects all of the band’s records and music videos on a single disc.

Record producer and engineer Stephen Street — who worked on three albums by The Smiths before producing and co-writing Morrissey’s solo debut ‘Viva Hate’ — will be the guest on this week’s episode of the ‘Sound Opinions’ radio program, billed as ‘the world’s only rock ‘n’ roll talk show.’

Synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys this weekend announced they’ve teamed up with choreographer Javier de Frutos to develop a full-length ballet based on the Hans Christian Andersen story ‘The Most Incredible Thing’ that’s set to premiere at London’s Sadler’s Wells dance house next March.

The Pixies will reissue two post-reunion concert DVDs — ‘Acoustic: Live in Newport’ and ‘Live at the Paradise in Boston’ — on a single Blu-ray disc this summer, bringing together 63 songs over three separate concerts spanning more than 20 years.

The reconstituted Public Image Ltd. today canceled the entire mid-August German leg of its ongoing reunion tour over ‘production scheduling problems,’ and said it has no plans to rebook the six scrapped concerts.

The Pixies continue to map out a busy 2010, with newly announced plans to follow up the band’s second round of U.S. ‘Doolittle’ concerts with a string of Latin American shows this October in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

The Houston, Texas-based Catastrophic Theatre is working with Pixies frontman Black Francis to adapt his 2007 solo album ‘Bluefinger’ — a concept record about the life and death of Dutch rocker and painter Herman Brood — into a rock opera set to debut this fall.

Watch the Kings of Leon cover the Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’ and Tori Amos take on The Cure’s ‘Love Song’ during their Friday night sets at the just-completed Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn.

The Pixies today canceled their first-ever concert in Israel this week, and while the band didn’t give a specific reason, the move follows last week’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and similar cancellations by Gorillaz and Elvis Costello.