I don’t remember the last time I set foot in the Hydro for a gig. I detest the place with every fibre of my being, but… it was My Bloody Valentine who, somehow with all my years of going to gigs behind me, I’ve never managed to see live before now. As I walked into the arena I remembered exactly what it was I hated. It’s a soulless cave, and despite the numbers of people in early to catch J Mascis it was devoid of any atmosphere, like a vacuum had sucked the soul from every living being…
Then J Mascis ambled onto the huge Hydro stage and all was well as he proceeded to delight and wow in equal measure with his familiar languid drawl, just him and his acoustic guitar, heavy on the effects and distortion. Stand outs for me were Little Fury things and a heart-melting version of The Wagon. All too soon J finished his short set and shuffled off the way he arrived, no airs and graces, job accomplished,
I’ll never love this venue, I prefer my gigs in places I can nearly touch the ceiling and you are so close to the bands you can almost touch them…but, for one night only, I wouldn’t have wished to be anywhere else, the venue even lit up a loveless pink for all to see, playing a set that more than filled the void, one that will live long in the memory and probably even longer on the eardrums, not the usual gig souvenir to take away…
I’m not sure I can find the right words to describe the My Bloody Valentine live experience. I could throw superlatives around left, right and centre, and I no doubt will, but nothing contained within these written words will ever be able to convey to the reader just how special or unique that experience was, especially not for the gargantuan 10 minutes of somehow utterly engaging 10 minutes of searing white noise mid You Made Me Realise.
Let me just start by saying that the whole experience was a bit of a head fuck, there were times I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing, and I’m sure no-one else I ever see again from now until I die will have my head in that same state of chaotic enthralled delirium. If Spinal Tap’s monitors went up to 11, Kevin Shields huge monitor stack goes up to 12. No, strike that, his dial doesn’t have numbers at all, it goes straight from zero to holy fuck! I could go on about the sheer wall of sound at length, and I probably will, but the thing that made this gig so much of a mind fuck is how, within that Brobdingnagian wall of piercing titanic noise there is a subtle purity and delicate sensitivity at its heart. At their core the songs tug at the heartstrings, and surely have the ability to bring even those with the hardest of hearts to their knees.
I’ve called this a gig, but that doesn’t give it the gravitas it deserves, it was a full body immersive experience, you don’t just listen to My Bloody Valentine at their gigs, you literally feel every single beat, every vibration. The vibrant energy was palpable as it pulsated though the atmosphere and rumbled through the floor finding every possible way of infiltrating my soul, that soul that I mentioned earlier being sucked from everyone in the building. The reinvigorating dynamism produced by My Bloody Valentine soon had every soul in the Hydro brimming with brio once again as every fibre of our beings were sparked into life. There was no resisting the spirited vivacity, and why would you want to resist? My Bloody Valentine came here to win our hearts and commandeer ours souls, resistance was futile.
My view was restricted by some of the tallest people in the world but you don’t need to see the band to know they’re there. You don’t need to fixate on watching them perform. In fact, there were long periods during which I had my eyes closed, allowing myself to be taken over my the moment and feeling every beat and absorbing every note. Then of course there is the mesmerisingly hypnotic psychedelic imagery that is projected high above the bands heads and adding to the overall atmosphere of the night.
I could go on and on about the songs they played, culled from across their catalogue, opening with the mightly Loveless duo of i only said and when you sleep. From then on the onslaught was relentless. The whole night was stand out moment after stand out moment, the gargantuan thunderous drums in the opening of Nothing Much to Lose, the swoonsome trance-inducing Soon, the glorious honey power… every song was immaculate, even when Kevin struggled with a guitar at one point (cue much kudos for what must be the busiest guitar techs in music today…) I think it was watching snub tv way back in the day where my love for all things mbv started, so their closing brace of songs starting with Feed Me With Your Kiss was most welcome. As the song closed I wondered if they would have to call it a day, as I was sure I’d read the curfew as 22:40, and that time had now come. Thankfully not, and they proceeded to close the gig with a monumental You Made Me Realise, which, give or take a few minutes must have lasted 15 minutes plus and which included an apocalyptic 10 minutes of crushing guitars. If someone told me I’d be utterly transfixed and completely mesmerised by a full 10 minutes of ear bursting white noise I’d probably have laughed in your face. mbv are the only band that could have pulled this off. It has only taken me around 40 years to see this most special of bands, and if I live long enough I’ll probably still be talking about this gig 4o years from now.
Setlist
- I Only Said
- When You Sleep
- New You
- You Never Should
- Honey Power
- Cigarette in Your Bed
- Only Tomorrow
- Come in Alone
- Only Shallow
- Off Your Face
- Thorn
- Nothing Much to Lose
- Who Sees You
- To Here Knows When
- Slow
- Soon
- Wonder 2
- Feed Me With Your Kiss
- You Made Me Realise