Okay here’s the back story. Back in the mid eighties there was a struggling slightly directionless Irish/London indie band called My Bloody Valentine they had released a few records and had even supported bands like the Soup Dragons – but they weren’t very good. They had a few line up changes, found their voice and signed to Creation. They released two of the most perfect feedback-drenched LPs ever recorded and some pretty splendid EPs too. “Loveless” almost bankrupted Creation and they were dropped. They signed to Island records but went a bit bonkers and didn’t release anything.
Jump forward in time, it is now 16 years since they last played live and 15 since releasing anything of substance. Support band (Sonic Boom’s) Spectrum have just finished their set of enjoyable, slightly trippy, drone rock that hasn’t progressed much since Boom’s time with Spacemen 3 – but then why change for change’s sake.
MBV took the stage without even acknowledging the audience and roared their way through tracks from “Isn’t Anything” and “Loveless”; I didn’t notice any of the fabled new material. I realised why the venue (or perhaps the band themselves) had supplied everyone with free ear plugs – the volume was intense – really intense and increasing as the band continued through their set. The vocals were pretty inaudible which left a lot of the crowd playing guess the tune a lot of the time – the power of the sound was phenomenal culminating in the 25 minute (seriously we were counting the seconds) mind-melting feedback storm known to fans of old as “The Holocaust” that was used as a segue during the final track “You Made Me Realise”. The only way I can describe it is like standing inside a rocket’s thruster during take off while being pummelled in the chest – many left during this sonic assault and even heard talk of people near the front collapsing and going off to be sick.
Looks like MBV are back … but only on their own terms. Magnificent
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