My Bloody Valentine @ Glasgow's Barrowland: Dazed & Amused
It was one of those gigs where you had to isolate yourself from all reviews beforehand; if you caught snippets, it sent a wave of trembling into your gut. Too many of those waves and the anticipation would shake you out of existence before the show even started! Then it was one of those gigs you almost disbelieve as soon as it ends. Did four people really just do that?! By now the legends of how MBV ends their set has spun around & pushed everyone's descriptive powers. I like to keep things simple: they ended with a giant force of noise which they melded together seemingly effortlessly & the shocks of which shake the floor and start creeping up from your boots, to your knees, all the way to your face.
A glance over the setlist still won't prepare you for the fact that you will never listen to Loveless or Isn't Anything again without remembering how this music is supposed to sound and at what volume. Every bit was so exquisite, you have to wonder if they waited over a decade to ensure that each particle of air in the atmosphere was in peak condition to conduct their sound waves from the tower of amps to your protected eardrums. Well, at least all but the vocals were perfectly transported. Dazed fans spilled out of Barrowland and onto the streets of Glasgow, most with punch drunk looks of bliss etched on their faces. This scene will repeat itself in every city they choose to play. No other reunion has been this glorious & perhaps the things to come from MBV will be just as heavenly.
MP3: My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
Labels: concert review, guest blogger, my bloody valentine
1 Comments:
I was at the first night at the Barrowlands - it was truly fantastic. We thought that there was something vaguely amusing about the free ear plugs that they were handing out downstairs, but the sound was just SO LOUD.
At one point between songs I overheard a guy behind me asking his friend 'what instrument was making that noise?' - refusing to believe that a guitar could make that sort of noise. That kind of sums up the sound: impossibly loud and like nothing I've ever heard before.
Another thing that I noticed: the band stood perfectly still pretty much the entire time; but there was more energy in the music than I've seen in 99% of other bands.
Definitely worth seeing live.
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