MY BLOODY VALENTINE WORSHIP THREAD (Reprise)

[super nintendo chalmers]

This is probably their best album.

LOL

Friday night!

I'm bringing earplugs.

Guess what?

This was quite disappointing. They're not a terribly good live band. Still love the records, but wouldn't see them play again.

Interesting. I was wondering what you'd thought of ATP.

[Birds in Hell]

This is probably their best album.

LOL

Friday night!

I'm bringing earplugs.

Guess what?

This was quite disappointing. They're not a terribly good live band. Still love the records, but wouldn't see them play again.

Interesting. I was wondering what you'd thought of ATP.

I didn't go! I thought we talked about this on the old board? Maybe not. I went to the MBV show last night instead of ATP (which was last weekend.) Since I had to fly there, this weekend worked out better time-wise.

[super nintendo chalmers]

This is probably their best album.

LOL

Friday night!

I'm bringing earplugs.

Guess what?

This was quite disappointing. They're not a terribly good live band. Still love the records, but wouldn't see them play again.

Interesting. I was wondering what you'd thought of ATP.

I didn't go! I thought we talked about this on the old board? Maybe not. I went to the MBV show last night instead of ATP (which was last weekend.) Since I had to fly there, this weekend worked out better time-wise.

Oh yeah, that is right. Must of spaced. Did anyone open?

[Birds in Hell]

This is probably their best album.

LOL

Friday night!

I'm bringing earplugs.

Guess what?

This was quite disappointing. They're not a terribly good live band. Still love the records, but wouldn't see them play again.

Interesting. I was wondering what you'd thought of ATP.

I didn't go! I thought we talked about this on the old board? Maybe not. I went to the MBV show last night instead of ATP (which was last weekend.) Since I had to fly there, this weekend worked out better time-wise.

Oh yeah, that is right. Must of spaced. Did anyone open?

Morning After Girls.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.

[Birds in Hell]

I got accused of being a "rockist" on another forum for complaining that the use of pre-recorded drum loops and keyboard parts detracted from the show for me.

It really did, though.

[psychobain]

It does.

[Birds in Hell]

The earlier, noisier stuff came across much better.

The volume was kind of a drag too. It was so loud that I knew I'd cause damage without earplugs, but wearing them really took away the visceral impact of the show and left me feeling even more disconnected.

For a band I'd waited years and years to see, the whole thing was a total bummer.

[Fuzzcharger]

Morning After Girls.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Gawd, I didn't know they were still even going.

[Birds in Hell]

I stumbled on this comment on a blog that nails my feelings exactly.

I love MBV. Loveless is just about my most-played album ever, and Isn’t Anything isn’t far behind. Love them, love them, love them. But I’m glad this piece points out the most unfortunate realization than an MBV superfan can come to – seeing them live is a miserable experience. For two reasons:

1. Aside from the drums and occasionally-almost-audible vocals, it’s nearly impossible to tell what, if anything, is actually being played live onstage. A lot of the music is clearly on loops, as it would have to be, but you can’t tell what is looped and what is live, or if anything is live. So you’re just staring at Shields for an hour and a half as he stands nearly motionless, seemingly just strumming continuous 8th notes on his guitar while a symphony of guitars playing all sorts of different rhythms somehow comes out of the speakers. It feels more like being in Kevin Shields’ company while MBV music plays than it does like watching him perform.

2. It’s just so, so, so unfathomably loud. No one goes to an MBV show expecting peace and quiet, of course, but it’s really just something else. Easily the loudest band I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen Slayer a half dozen times), and possibly the loudest sustained sound I’ve ever heard, period. The problem with this is that MBV basically consists of three elements: a delicate balance of textures and nuances, a seemingly offhand knack for lovely melodies, and a wall of noise. In concert, the wall of noise is the only thing left, to the extent that it would often take me a minute or so to recognize what song the band was playing. At times this noise level is interesting in a purely experiential sense, but it transmutes almost nothing of what makes MBV such a great band.

And then there’s the closing “You Made Me Realize” noise jam, which lasts 15 minutes and kicks up the volume to such brain-melting levels that it almost becomes a physical presence in the room. I remember standing in the middle of the arena, professional grade earplugs in place, further covering my ears my hands, eventually crouching down on the floor as the noise went on. Everyone around me was pretty much doing the same thing, like standing in the middle of a sandstorm and refusing to take cover. A girl near me threw up toward the end, and she didn’t appear to be drunk. Once again, a pretty unique experience, but also a massively unpleasant one, and one completely removed from the pleasure that I associate with listening to the band.

[Birds in Hell]

It's strange, five days later and my mind keeps running over why I didn't enjoy the show. MBV have been such an enormously important band to me and I'd wanted to see them play for so many years, it was really unnerving to walk out of the show feeling so deflated and disappointed.

I still love the records, but I guess they're just not for me as a live experience.

[super nintendo chalmers]

Louder than Sunn?

[VinylGuy]

they are famous for their live approach, i havent seen them live and im want it badly, but i wont expect any thing different.

[Birds in Hell]

Louder than Sunn?

I wish I could say!

They've never played Adelaide and keep cancelling every tour they announce down here.

[Fuzzcharger]

This album seems to have dropped completely off the face of the earth. What happened?

[Birds in Hell]

I'm still listening to it...

They've only done a handful of shows and no substantial interviews (that I can recall) since it came out, I guess that would have a lot to do with it.

[VinylGuy]

This album seems to have dropped completely off the face of the earth. What happened?

i still listen to it too...new you is my favorite track.

[Birds in Hell]

I wish they'd played more new songs when I saw them in February, they only played New You off the new record. I think they gave us the "classic" MBV show as they hadn't played here in so long, but I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more had they thrown in more of the new material.

[Fuzzcharger]

Cool, I was just wondering. The media campaign for most new albums seems to be regularly in my FB feed for up to 6 months whereas with mbv it had this amazing initial burst on activity and then it seemed to die off rather quickly.

[Birds in Hell]

My impression from reading interviews with Kevin is that he genuinely has no interest in approaching his music like it was a career, in the sense of promoting the band, not taking 20 years to release a new album, etc.

[psychobain]

the new album just gets better and better