I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 30, 2018] My Bloody Valentine

Back in the 1990s I loved My Bloody Valentine.  I can recall checking the racks in Newbury Comics on a weekly basis just to see if there was some kind of follow up to Loveless (this is before the internet told us when things were coming out).  After waiting some 20 years I basically gave up on the band.  When mbv came out, I didn’t even bother listening to it, the hype was so much.

When they announced this tour I wondered whether it was worth going.  But I was assured that they always put on a good show.  I was also warned that it would be loud.  Really loud.  Like, people leaving the theater loud.  It actually made me a little nervous.  They were giving out earplugs at the entrance (which is a good idea for any show, nut especially for this one).

I knew I wouldn’t be there early enough to get too close.  But I’ve learned from past show that being up too close ruins the vocals.  So that was fine.  The crowd was pretty large when we arrived and I wasn’t sure where I wanted to be. 

I wound up pretty much right in front of Kevin Shields.  Which was awesome, until I realized that I could barely see Bilinda Butcher, and Deb Googe was largely obscured except when he moved around (which she did more than anyone else).

So the band came out (Shield’s amps were all facing away from the crowd I guess to put him in a pocket of his own making.  And they started.  And it was loud.  But I have to say nowhere near as loud as some other bands I’ve heard.  Certainly Sunn O))) was louder (that show actually hurt).  It was a wall of sound to be sure, but it didn’t really blow me away like I imagined–I had to wonder if maybe the Fillmore’s system couldn’t handle it.  (The Fillmore’s system is pretty great, when we saw Band of Horses there, the sound was amazing).

What was worse was that Shields is a musical perfectionist but it felt like the mix was terrible.  The speakers weren’t behind me or anything, but the vocals were practically inaudible.  I wasn’t expecting to understand lyrics or anything, but I did want to hear the vocal melodies.  I realize that the greatness of MBV is that all of the music is meant to layer on top of each other but you can usually hear every part of it.

And yet, Butcher’s vocals were all but gone.  And even Shields’ vocals were barely there.

It started out good with two songs from Loveless, but I wanted to hear more voice on “When You Sleep” (this recording is actually more voice than I heard in person, I assume the phone tuned out the overall noise).

It felt like a wall of sound but without a melody to distinguish.  The only voice I could hear at all on “New You” was Deb Googe doing the “doo doo doo backing vocals.  I was lucky enough o see Deb play with Thurston Moore.  She was about 5 feet from me and she was amazing. She played the same way for MBV–kind of hunched over, rocking back and forth and causing all kinds of low end havoc.

It’s my fault that I hadn’t listened to more than Loveless recently, so when they played seven songs in a row that I didn’t recognize (including the two brand new ones), I am shocked to say this, but I was a little bored.

It was great to hear “Only Shallow” for sure.  But when they played a couple more unfamiliar songs, I felt like I needed to get away from the speakers near me, so I moved from my coveted spot in front of Kevin and tried to get to Bilinda’s side. But there was no doing that, it was too packed. So I spent the last third of the show in the back of the room.  The sound was better, but again, surprisingly not that loud.

I also want to say that drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig was amazing throughout.  I could hear him more clearly than most everything and he was nonstop.

I couldn’t see much of anything from back there, but the projections were cool.  And it seemed like Bilinda’s voice was either louder or better mixed.  

I should have realized that they’d save all the best songs for the end.  So I am kinda bummed that I gave up my spot and had to be in the back for the cavalcade of end songs.  But maybe the sound was just better back there and I would have been disappointed to be tin the middle for “Soon.”

And then came the one-two punch of the end of the show.  One of the great things about “Feed Me With Your Kiss” was that it really jolted the show out of that gauzy production with some really jagged notes and Deb’s thundering bass..  It was great.

“You Made Me Realise” is a notorious set-ender for the band.  They play the body of the song a few times, with that great moment where they sing the title of the song only to pause and launch again.  Then there’s the notorious “holocaust section.”  This is legendary the moment in any MBV show in which they crank up all of their gear, play a single note over and over and otherwise fill the theater with a wall of utter noise.  This section can last up to twenty minutes as I understand.  Ours was about 7 (here’s 30 seconds).

That was pretty awesome, but once again, not as deafening as I anticipated.  But I could feel my clothes vibrate, which was pretty cool.

I guess a 20 year build up of the excitement of this show let me down a bit.  Or indeed, maybe the sound wasn’t that good.  I did see someone else say that the show was meh for them.  The question is then, would I see them again?  I’m not sure.

1. I Only Said [love]
2. When You Sleep [love]
3. New You [mbv]
4. New Song 1
5. You Never Should [isnt]
6. Honey Power [tremolo]
7. New Song 2
8. Cigarette in Your Bed [YmmR]
9. Only Tomorrow [mbv]
10. Only Shallow [love]
11. What You Want [love]
12. Thorn [YmmR]
13. Nothing Much to Lose [isnt]
14. Who Sees You [mbv]
15. To Here Knows When [love]
16. Slow [YmmR]
17. Soon [love]
18. Wonder 2 [mbv]
19. Feed Me with Your Kiss [isnt]
20. You Made Me Realise [YmmR]

from

[YmmR] =You Made Me Realise EP (1988)
[isnt] = Isn’t Anything (1988)
[love] = Loveless (1991)
[tremolo] = Tremolo (1991)
[mbv] = mbv (2013)