My Bloody Valentine - Roundhouse 20/06
5 Comments Published by Tom on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 10:48.
Two songs in and you could still have a conversation with those around you quite comfortably. It wasn't supposed to be like this? Where was that famed loudness? Had the UK Nanny States* health and safety regulations kicked in once more? After all there were free ear plugs on offer but we didn't need them. My natural pessimism was starting to get the better of me. Then slowly but surely the volume increased and by the end of the night people around me were covering their ears in pain.Yep My Bloody Valentine had returned. If John Motson wrote music reviews he would be writing surprisngly this is the first time I have seen them headline. Those days supporting the Darling Buds and The Soup Dragons have really paid off you know. Er thanks John!
The set list varied to the one posted on the net from last Saturday's warm up show at the ICA but was still a mixture of tracks from Loveless, Isn't Anything and EP b-sides. They opened with Only Shallow and one of the cosmetic giants should sign up Bilinda Butcher to promote their wares as she still looks the same from where I was standing. Or should I have gone to Specsavers? She cut a wistful figure, barely raising her voice above the feedback. Actually you would have been forgiven if you thought Japancakes were here instead, doing their instrumental versions of Loveless, because the majority of the time you couldn't hear the vocals full stop! Did Shields actually sing or was he chewing gum? It was hard to tell. But it's what we like. Crank it up.
I don't normally notice lighting at the larger gigs (beer helps) but the strobe and slide shows complemented the music perfectly and also disguised the fact that the band barely moved with the exception of Colm on drums who still battered ten shades of shit out of his kit. Debbie Goodge didn't budge either in complete contrast to her younger days where she played her bass with a demonic frenzy. That said we gave the mosh pit a wide berth too. Thanks Father Time.
Highlights for me were Thorn and Soon with the latter's rhythmic beat - no wonder it was turned into a Balearic classic by Andrew Weatherall - being the only variation on a theme getting the night's loudest cheer from the audience.
They close with Feed Me With Your Kiss and then You Made Me Realise which still ends with the band's indulgence of white noise. Newcomers thought it was a joke but 10 minutes in hands were clasping on ears, headphones were going on - anything to block out the "noise". Then it was over. Lights on, everyone out. It's great. No interaction with the audience - no speaking, no thanks, no whoops during the songs and certainly no smiles from the band members. But plenty of good music. Just the way it should be.
The band appear at the Roundhouse, London until Tuesday 24th June before moving onto Manchester and Glasgow. They then head to the Festival Circuit and the USA.
[My Space link]
*thanks to any UK right wing tabloid/rag.
can't wait to see them myself. how are your ears?
My ears are fine. I like white noise :o)
"Sonic rape" is how my mate described it.
Bloody marvellous gig!
Gutted to have missed this. I saw them on the Rollercoaster tour.. which was good, but not personal enough. I want to be sonically raped. That's exactly what I'm after. I have no musical knickers on and I welcome intruders.
ah, we had a trip there ourselves that night for The Hillfields first birthday (we started up at Iggy and The Stooges on 20/6 last year). MBV were stunning - can't wait for our second birthday... maybe Pavement will reform...!