The official 'Ive just seen My Bloody Valentine live' thread
 

Hey, you'll never guess what guys - I've just seem My Bloody Valentine live! I saw them last night (Sat 21st) at the Roundhouse, and they were, as I'm sure you've already heard, excruciatingly loud. Having experienced Merzbow live a couple of monthes ago, I think I can authoratively claim MBV are by miles the most intense thing I've ever experienced. The 25 minute apocalyptic interstellar overdrive in You Made Me Realise was really like driving towards a wall at 90 mph. Even the noise-rockers couldn't cope! Bradford Cox from the band Deerhunter was standing a few feet away from me and had his fingers in his ears by the end. Really utterly, truely amazing.


(However, what I will say is don't go expecting to hear it played note perfect, I feel some of the noises in the tracks were lost after they recorded it, and can't be reproduced live. For example 'Only Shallow' sounds notably different to the original. But thats all part of the MBV live experience, their records, much as I love them, can't even begin to suggest the violence of the music live...)

thank you for starting this thread. Maybe it should be stickied!

How might one do this stickifying you speak of?

haha i think the moderator would have to do it, so it probably won't happen.

oh well it'll be bumped a million times.

Ah! I wish I could see them :(

Yeah, I saw them on the 20th... It was fucking great though i was feeling a bit sick at the start and had to go out to the sides just before they came on. If i could have heard any vocals it would have been a condender to for the best gig ive ever been too, but ti was strange as well feeling queesy before it started. There was a few mistakes as well, not any bad ones though... You made me realize was awesome too... it's weird because some people expect it from them so it evokes a lot of odd reactions from people but it's kind of like a big fuck you. I think i must have sustained some hearing damage but it seems okay.

Does anyone know who the support band was too? The violinist/xylophonist person was very bombastic.

What was "kind of like a big fuck you"? The few mistakes?

these 2 sahows are both up on dime now

mbv_Roundhouse,Chalk Farm,London_21st June 2008_AUD MASTER w/samples

My Bloody Valentine 2008-06-20 London Roundhouse

Nah, the noise in you made me realize. nobody seems to know how to respond to it - but thats good because people do respond and that's what i find interesting about it. It's kind of like a thing that wills people to just leave and never see my bloody valentine ever again and yet now some people come specifically for it.

Seeing MBV and not expecting noise? Then I guess those people really do deserve a big fuck you.

gah, you motherfuckers, i dont get to see them

Just returned from seeing them at the Roundhouse in London. They did all the greats, ending off with a version of "You Made Me Realise" that lasted for about 35 minutes (with 32 of 'em being the noise bit). Ridiculously loud all in all (my hearing is fucked), they still have it - songs that are noisy, poppy, driving and realy quite sensuous/sexual. Mr Shields aside, none of the others seem to have aged much at all. Bilinda still looks totally gorgeous, Debbie and Colm moved around like motherfuckers, and Kevin kept up the grand tradition of mumbling "hello" to the audience as his only bit of crowd interaction. No new songs of course. A pointless exercise in nostalgia? Quite probably yes. A fantastic performance of a band who are still shit-hot? Definitely.

mmmm, i just got back, i thought it was alright, the end noise bit was the best thing about the gig, it was one of the most physical experiences i've had at a gig in terms of the sound. i don't know, they played the songs i hoped they'd play but i couldn't help thinking it would have been way more awesome if it had been 1991.

Yeah, I would have got pushed in in my pram.

MBV were miles better tonight than they were the night before. I could have cried when they did All I Need. Wonderful stuff.

How old were you in '91?

12 years old

Fuck. I know I'm not gonna score a ticket, and I can't afford to pay more than like $50, but I really want to see them when they come here, now...

Thanks for giving me another impossible dream.

So, are Kevin Shields' kids putting out the next MBV album in 2040, now?

I first saw them in 1990 (at the ULU in London, fact fans, supported by an incredibly dull Sonic Boom set), and for me there was the shock of a) their sheer volume and b) hearing a load of their stuff I was unfamiliar with but loved immediately. Obviously, I didn't have the same feeling of surprise this time round, but for me, they still played with the same power as in 1990. No complacency from them at all, no sirree.

T&B - When I was experiencing the noise bit of "...Realise", my jeans were actually flapping round my legs. Did you have actually physical sensations yourself?

yeah, parts of my head were vibrating

the thing i was thinking during the noise bit though was that if it wasn't for the sheer force of the volume it would have been a bit dull, i mean compared to other noise things i've seen.

Yeah, it was more of an endurance test, in a way. There wasn't a huge amount in the way of tonal variation, was there? However, it was fun (!) to experience. One thing I did pick up on was some of the "beating" sounds that emerged from the guitar racket, quite rhythmic in it's own way. My fave moment in this was closing my eyes, feeling the strobes and flashing lights against my closed eyelids, and just letting the sound wash over me. Nice!

Then you're the same age as my brother. It was a good year for great people to get born, as I see ;)

yeah, it was fun to experience, i'm just tired so being overly negative about things

I heard the recording of you made me realise and it surely seems something to experience live. If they come here, I'm sort of obliged to go see them, even though I'm not massively into them nowadays.

in '91 I was 6 and wouldn't have given a fuck about mbv.

AWESOMe! my eyeballs have just about stopped vibrating, anyone still wanting to go = try on the door, I managed to get a standing ticket on friday just before the doors opened, think it was one of the last couple but gots to be worth a punt if yr just passing by. amazing gig, brutal, oppressive, beautiful. The "death chord" bit on friday was only about fifteen minutes, don't really feel shortchanged though. still sounded pretty vital to me. I never saw them in 91 but was with my brother who had and the look on his face suggested they were well up to snuff. cool to see an audience utterly mauled by noise, i mean, when they finished they didn't even need to turn the house lights up to clear the room, there seemed to me to be a burst of rapturous applause and then most people needed to get outside, no real calls for an encore or anything, just a lot of frrreaaaked out peoples praying they didn't just fuck their ears forever, and, Melly I had the exact same thing, I was wearing my natty new skin tight jeans and they were rippling around my legs like a pair of mc-hammer's, wtf!! berrilliant.
loved the film stuff as well, was it salo?

1980. That was obviously a very good year, too :)

especially december between 22 and 23.

leaning slighhhhhhhhhhhhhhtly towards 23 :D

Are they using any backing tracks?

i think so, for the melodic bits of songs like when you sleep, and only shallow.

Also, the melodic riff that runs through "Soon" (they did the same in 1990, so it's no big deal).

What sort of merchandise was there at the show? Just so I know how much extra money to take really.

They're selling see-through shirts that say either "My Bloody Valentine", "You Made Me Realise", or "Loveless". From what I heard they cost 23 pounds.

?!!

Fuck, I don't have £23. I thought they'd be like £15 or something.

My Bloody Valentine 2008-06-22 London

by salamanda

didn't look

saw them last night (22nd) and I can say that, without a doubt, it was the best live experience I have had in over 20 years.

MBV were on of the bands that I kept missing in the 80's so it was great to finally hear those songs as they are meant to be heard. Trouble is, I don't think I'll be able to listen to the CDs again without feeling a little disappointed - no matter how high I turn the volume it will never match what I heard last night.

The sonic assault at the end of 'You Made Me Realise' was fantastic! So many subtle changes going on, so many layers of sound. It took my breath away.

The only thing that has come close in terms of volume was Swans in Brighton in '86.

I hope none of you used the earplugs they were handing out on the door.

A great gig. I really hope they keep going and produce more new material soon.