07.15.08
It’s not for the cock, it’s for all your body parts.
My Bloody Valentine/Camden Roundhouse/20.06.08
It’s not often that a band whom you’ve not only idolised and adored for years but have also given up on having a chance of ever seeing live announce a generous handful of shows. It’s even less often that said band are responsible for some of the most colossal live shows in popular music history and just happen to book their first show back an mere hour away from where these very words are being typed. My Bloody Valentine at the Roundhouse always promised to be everything your average reunion isn’t, worthwhile, fairly priced and packaged together neatly into some of the countries most perfect venues. Despite the release of some tiny warm up shows at the ICA a week earlier it is infact the 20th that marks the official live return and the Camden Roundhouse’s earplug equipped doors that’ll will open the world to it. By the time Kevin Shields and company took to the stage not even the sharpest metaphorical knife would manage to hack its way through the atmosphere. Months of tension, excitement and speculation has come down to this; four musicians, a stage and their audience. Oh, and some fucking powerful speakers.
From the first note played waves of sound drenched the room, hitting you from every angle thanks to the cylindrical venue. As the quartet resurrected more of their classics, including Only Shallow, Thorn and When You Sleep, the music began to build and those complementary ear plugs slowly began to find their way into ears around the room. As ‘You Made Me Realise’ made its way into the Holocaust the sound became all encompassing and the show went from being a feast for the eyes and ears to pulsating through to your inner core as if it were an essential function. During those twenty minutes all you’re left to do is experience the music, put your hands over your ears and pray that, tonight, tinnitus passes you by and while this may not sound ideal to all music fans for a true shoegazer there’s not much that comes closer to bliss.
While the set was definitely on the generous side it seemed to end all too quickly and the promise of an encore and the possibility of new material that gave the end a bit of a sour taste but as soon as we were swept away along Camden high street we were completely elated. My Bloody Valentine was everything you could hope it to be so dust off your earplugs and find out for yourself.
If you don’t already own ‘Loveless’ get yourself a copy here.