The Return Of My Bloody Valentine

btw Ned and Stevie basically OTM but fail to mention that "You Made Me Realise" goes beyond sound you can feel to sound you can practically touch

I always love this bit from the interview I did with him:

NR: I'm especially thinking, of course, of your version of "You Made Me Realize." I saw two performances back then, one at the Roxy and one at the Palace, which I gather was one of the last times the band performed back then...

KS: The last time we played in America...actually, the last time we played anywhere! The one in Los Angeles. It was a shame, because it wasn't loud. I remember thinking we played technically well, and I remember playing and going, 'It's not loud.' Because when it's loud, you can see ripples among the people as they all get hit by certain frequencies...

NR: To put your mind at ease, I think it was loud enough!

KS: Loud in a caustic way, but not in a low-frequency way, not in the stomach way. In the ears, yeah. I think we definitely tried to push that as far as we could ever push it. But I think in the future I want to make it a lot more physical, in a body way.

NR: That actually sounds a bit like Throbbing Gristle, of all bands, the way they tried to make sound visible.

KS: I think that's a good thing! I think that's real. It's like when you play an acoustic guitar, weirdly enough. The only way you can imitate an acoustic guitar effect on your body when you're sitting there playing it is to have a Marshall amp at full. It's quite perverse, in a way. People perceive loud music as somehow being really confrontational and aggressive, but really what you're doing is being sensual. At least that's the way I feel; I know Dinosaur Jr. are like that as well. A lot of bands are trying to get that feel when they're just sitting around playing with their amplifiers; then it feels right. When it feels dislocated from you, when it feels quiet, then it's wrong.

He knows exactly what he is doing, and what he wants to have happen.

I'm curious to hear from those who have seen this recent tour as well as tourdates of yore.

At the risk of being typical -- I am planning a liveblog.

Sounds great. I'm looking forward to geeking out on this as much as possible.

To rogermexico who mentioned the Boredoms, their Super ae show was my baseline for loudest/most intense concert experience until last night. As far as placards go, I'd be up for it in the future. I rarely post but have been ilxing for longer than I've realized....

Coincidentally, The Bug & Warrior Queen on Sunday broke my personal record for loudest *bass* live at a show ever.

And Thursday might break another live volume all 'round record for me. Or it will be second place. We'll see.

Here's the set list from last night (not my photo):
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/12940279.jpg

The vocals weren't quite loud enough where I was, which was disappointing because I feel that a lot of the melodic texture of their songs is in the vocal lines. And the bass was simply punishing, loud and physical. The sensual comment is very telling; this was the first experience I'd had where the sound was loud enough to feel (not just as a percussive or concussive short term event). It moved through and over my body and my clothes rattled. That final 20 minutes or so was a total physical experience.

Just got word via e-mail that tomorrow night's show will start at 8:30 pm, not 9 pm (doors at 7:30). And you'll want to be there for Spectrum, for sure. (I actually think I'll try and get up front for that and withdraw for the ravening hordes for MBV...)

NY show was doors at 7, MBV went on around 940-45

I thought Spectrum was excellent last night. I didn't have high expectations, but they were really good.

haha dude don't worry the vocals weren't loud enough ANYWHERE

yeah the vocal mix was pretty fucked all around

No way around that - the PA wasn't going to keep up with the amps!

the vocals aren't even loud enough on the album!

What's UP with that?

last nite

BADS: vox were sub lp levels. sound dude (i stood next to him) was pretty blasted. as with the early 90s shows, i expected some flubs from colm/blinda/deb but this go around it was actually Mssr. Shields who lost count more than a few times in the mathier numbers. venue was abyssmal. 125k ft2 brick/wood/glass convention hall was no match for the mid/small venues of the previous tour* (*lol).

GOODS: all the songs, all the melodies, all the sounds, totally awesome. it was a little more than half a life ago and a lot has changed through the years but the songs still stirred up the same emotions and energies. YMMR seemed much more sedate compared to the last tour* (*lolz?) but i had earplugs in this time rather than crinkled paper towels.

nice to see everyone again, they're still as mellow and non-chalant as ever.

venue was abyssmal. 125k ft2 brick/wood/glass convention hall was no match for the mid/small venues of the previous tour* (*lol).

Still my biggest worry for tomorrow. Hope Elvis T.'s guess that tonight will be the test run and tomorrow the fine-tuning holds.

LOL sad little Kevin y don't u sing loudr?

Was anyone there last night?

J-Rock didn't post again on this thread, so I fear he was killed by the noise.

Nearly. The Toronto show was excellent. I thought the set-list was great, and they sounded really good, although the vocals were a little low in the mix, even for them. The rhythm section were a lot more prominent than on the records, which was a pleasant surprise. The "Holocaust" lived up to its billing, and was one of the most visceral experiences I've ever had at a live show. I'm not even sure how long it went on for, but somewhere between 15-20 minutes. I've never felt noise like that before. I took my earplugs out for a few seconds during it, and it sounded like the end of the world.

I was there, and as much as I cherish the memories of the shows in '91 and '92 I just wasn't prepared for the being-inside-of-a-continuous-explosion (was reminded of HG Wells' The World Set Free) section of "You Made Me Realise". The whole show is amazing with "Cigarette in Your Bed" a personal highlight.

Glad to hear Sonic rocking the Spacemen 3 jams/covers too ("Suicide" was GREAT).

Oh good.

^^That sounds like my 18 year old dream come true.
xpost

Ned, I believe you will be pleased to say the least.

I trust your judgment on these matters.

Ha, well someone on the mybloodyvalentine.net forum says:

"the sound was plain terrible last night. Most of the songs were indistinguishable at first, I couldn't hear Belinda at all, and there were a few technical problems."

But again, compared to the shows I saw in the early 90s (which are among the top 5 shows I've ever seen), this was amazing. Obviously there are different expectations, but I'm not sure how anyone could not be affected by the YMMR section.

One thing I'll say is that I didn't need earplugs for the whole night. I do remember a helium quality to Bilinda's voice that I heard at their SF show long ago that wasn't there, but it's not like anything was "missing".

Also, the songs at first were plainly distinguishable to me.

Despite all my cynicism everywhere, I'm really^3 looking forward to the show tonight.

I should clarify that while I didn't need earplugs for the whole night, I certainly needed them for certain parts!!!! They provide them so definitely use them!!!

I just got earlove earplugs and I'm seing
Tony Conrad, Neptune, The Dead C, Sightings, Earth & Sunn O))) over three days… going to be so glad.

Nice, I think those are the same ones made by Etymotics and also sold under the Hearos' brand. They're great because their depth is adjustable depending on how much you want to attenuate.

I used earplugs only for the YMMR noise section, ears only* rang for about 24 hours post-show.

*I r deaf anywayz.

Appropriate choice of visual, I think.

Or this (found on Flickr)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2907833580_ac37fb6bec.jpg

This one too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iancrogers/2906154417/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2906154417_4c447b1838.jpg

Hahah, all pretty OTM I'd guess.

One more:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/2907122099_dbf5779b98.jpg

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/ce3ks.jpg

the aforementioned forum is also a pretty good place to hang out if you're curious to hear the isn't anything remaster, so y'all know. i'm only a couple of songs in, but it's really interesting - soft as snow sounds kind of lovelessy. really. i remember forever ago reading an interview where kevin talked about how it'd been compressed, or filtered, somehow, in the process of being mastered, and he'd always wondered what it'd sound like without. it's really upfront and kind of hi-fi, now, central vocals and stuff.

So I'm crazy enough to try and liveblog this. Keep an eye out. Something'll be up later.

Better close up of Kevin's effect boards. Bletchley Park scientists not included.

So he's using two guitars

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:54 PM (3 months ago)

lolz

one for each song in SF

Mmmm. Yeah, that was good.

less mean sounding than 1992, but waay more colorful visually and aurally.

Really really glad I made the trip down

Obama/Googe 08

You realise, now, every time I think of My Bloody Valentine, I now also get an associated think of Louis Walsh?

I love the blinding ball of white light. Never was lighting so apt for a band.

(Thanks for the zvex links, too, ooooohhhhh WANT WANT WANT)

I deliberately picked the second show because that gives Kevin and the sound guys a day to tweak the sound to best advantage.

This was Elvis T. some days back and my friend ML Compton says that appears to have been the case:

MBV live shows are usually a sonic attack that leaves the audience dazed after the onslaught and this show was certainly that. But the band didn't jell well for the first half of the set. The sound was murkier than usual and just bogged down into a swirling mass of noise, making it hard to distinguish one song from another. But it all came together in the second half and by the final song, "You Made Me Realized", with its seemingly never ending sheets of white noise at the end; I had completely remembered what made this band so great. A good portion of the young audience covered their ears and fled to the exits, but I was in sonic heaven and could have listened to that song, one of the best of all time, all night long.

The second night was a whole different kettle of fish. The sound was great right from the beginning and the set and audience seemed more energetic and attentive to detail. Although it still ended in the same sonic apocalypse, this time it was almost orgasmic in intensity. It was a beautiful thing and I realized that My Bloody Valentine really is one of the best bands ever. I really hope they finish that third album and tour regularly once again.

And yes, as you can read in that link, ML did hear some of those third album tracks a long while back. Lucky bastard.

This was an incredibly profound show.

It was interesting for me to be simultaneously 'in' it and analyzing it, but I think that was about the only way I could react, since I was constantly drawing back connections to 1992. If it had been my first show straight up I think I would be where you're at.

In his blog Ned alludes to the this (especially the combo of Spectrum & MBV together) as being a resetting of the clock - both of them being the Year Zero for so many bands that followed in their wake. However, I can't help but notice just how many bands who list MBV and Spacemen 3 in their MySpace profiles completely miss the point - as if all you need for shoegaze glory is 250kg of off-the-rack effects pedals and designer amps. Sure, Shields has the most complex rig I've ever seen on stage anywhere, but it's completely purposeful and not overkill at all for what he's trying to accomplish. Say what you want about the irritations of autistic intensity, but when you finally get the payoff... Holy freaking goddamn shit.

YMMR is difficult for me to articulate in words... I've seen an Apollo Saturn V launch. I've seen the Swans. I've seen Survival Research Lab performances. I once got to see a SR-71 flyby on full afterburner - that gets pretty close to YMMR's total frequency response. Still, there's a lot more going on than just an endless sheet of white noise. It's a structured event with ebbs and flows, an endless acceleration of Shepard Tones (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_tone), and enough VLF to affect every whale and nuclear submarine on the planet. It's entirely possible that this was all auditory illusions going on in my head.

I walked around a bit and did find some sound nodes in the auditorium (think Pelt's set at Terrastock 2) but most of the time I was concentrating on the sound and mostly kept my eyes closed. There were a lot of shell shocked people outside in the hallway - I can't imagine getting stoned or taking anything heavier to this kind of show.

It's a structured event with ebbs and flows, an endless acceleration of Shepard Tones (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_tone), and enough VLF to affect every whale and nuclear submarine on the planet. It's entirely possible that this was all auditory illusions going on in my head.

I was wondering about that a bit myself, but I'm pretty sure they were real. Fascinating to note. Wished I had done more direct audience observation but what I saw was varied enough.

Photos I took on the fly are now fully edited into the blog piece, along with a couple of song corrections/updates.

By the way, ATTENTION ANY OTHER BAND WHO'S THINKING OF REUNITING...

The bar has been set pretty goddamn high here. I can't think of any other band who's taken sixteen years off and have come back sounding as vital as the day they left. The Pixies weren't close. Pink Floyd tried after ten years, but they needed twelve people on stage and still missed it. I loved the Verve reunion, but a good part of that was seeing McCabe again. MBV sounds like a phenomenally great band that's getting ready to work on their next album. I hope they do it.