He fucking nailed the hat silhouette.
Bilinda looked even more beautiful than Wednesday.
A monumental show. A total assault on the senses. Iām drained after it.
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It was loud but not Sunno))) loud. You could manage without earplugs and not burst an eardrum.
Thatās the long and the short of it. An assault on the senses.
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I didnāt bother with the earplugs.
Lightning Bolt were louder but a different type of loud. The first time I saw Dinosaur Jr up in Galway was ferocious but Iāve seen them 4/5 times since and never seemed as loud. The Bug were surprisingly loud but I think that was the fucking bass.
Sunn O))) is senior hurling alright. Still never seen them live. Sleep live just sends shudder through the body.
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Seen Sunno))) live twice. Once in the NCH and once in the Button Factory. In the Button Factory I thought my chest might cave in.
HUP! Must check out next time round.
Have you seen Sleep? Saw them do Dopesmoker. Christ, my insides were shuddering. Mighty stuff.
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I have not.
There are four young lads on the train across from me. Early 20s at most. Theyāre talking about how much more important it was to go see MBV than the Ireland rubby team
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In the Workmanās club for the first time. I went in because itās beside me bus stop, because Iād never been here and because itās raining hard. Iām scared. Very scared. Thereās a lot of boom boom boom wah wah weh noise which sounds like aliens invadingā¦ And the people are all much younger than me ā¦Iām going home. I need a mug of Complan.
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The Workmans is harmless.
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āsoonā was phenomenal.
25 years ago I did a little college radio show and it was my theme tune. I got sick of the tune by the end of the year, perhaps.
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@caulifloweredneanderthal @Cheasty @Fagan_ODowd thats what you cal living lads.
L-i-v-i-n
I thought it would never end. I didnāt want it to end. Then it got to a point where I thought it needed to end. Eventually it did.
They played all of To Here Knows When this time instead of just the first 40 seconds. There are tracks you just never imagine youāll hear live, and then you do. The Robin Of Sherwood theme by Clannad was one. That blew my mind when I heard it live. So did this.
The Luas was off. That was the first time for a very long time Iāve done the long walk. It felt appropriate. I like the long walk. But obviously you wouldnāt choose to do it when you donāt have to, especially when youāre wearing Docs. Itās like the era of the INTERNET, we all want to go back to a time before it, and yet none of us would choose to get rid of it. I feel My Bloody Valentineās music is made for the dark, dank streets of winter Dublin and I listened to it as I did the long walk. The rudimentary big screen shots demonstrated how My Bloody Valentineās music is the music of winter and dark. Bare trees, the M50, a plane landing in the dark, skyscrapers in the dark.
I stuck my fingers in my ears several times, not because it was too loud but because it greatly altered the sound dynamics. When you stuck your fingers in your ears, you could hear exactly what they were playing in immense clarity. You could hear the strumming, you could hear the whammy bar doing its work. Shields is immensely under rated as a guitarist. There arenāt many guitarists who you instantly recognise just from one second of sound. Dublin has produced two.
At some point over the coming year Iām going to splash out on a Noel Gallagher signature Epiphone Riviera. Though I might wait for a Kevin Shields signature Fender Jazzmaster.
That was an all timer. The last three days has been an all timer.
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No Sometimes?
I went with my older lad. A memory made. He loved it. Soon was incredible. No other gig Iāve seen was like it. One of those you had to be there to understand ones.
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My Bloody Valentine 3Arena, Dublin,ā ā ā ā ā
Letās get the clichĆ©s out of the way on My Bloody Valentineās gig in Dublin: a sonic cathedral of glorious dreamlike otherworldliness, ethereal white noise, heavenly-sounding walls of textured effects, epiphany-inducing distortion, discordant waves of guitars.
On Saturday night at 3Arena, Kevin Shields, Colm Ć CĆosĆ³ig, Belinda Butcher and Debbie Googe were welcomed like returning heroes: this was the Irish-English quartetās first performance in seven years and their first Irish gig since 2013ās Electric Picnic appearance.
Thirty-four years ago this month, MBV released their second album Loveless.Adverts in the music press for the landmark record declared: āThey invented it. All you have to do is listen to it.ā
In December 1991, Melody Maker and NME, the music gatekeepers of the era, awarded Loveless No. 7 and No. 9 respectively in their āAlbums of the Yearā round-ups. In the intervening years the albumās stature has grown year-on-year and itās now rightly regarded as one of the greatest albums ever recorded.
Weāve still listening to it, and judging by the huge cohort of young people at last nightās 3Arena gig a sizeable portion of the bandās fanbase werenāt even born when the record was released. The streaming algorithms that push dream-pop playlists have sent millennials back to find the origin of the species. Amen.
My Bloody Valentine at 3Arena Dublin.
Earplugs were distributed on entry and a punter in front of me kept checking a decibel-counter app. When MBV hit, they hit hard. At times it felt like a punch to the gut. Where is the joy in that? When the punch is layered in the most gorgeous textures the effect is truly mesmerising, almost trance-inducing.
There was a warm-up show last Wednesday in the National Stadium. Before 2,000 excited punters the band ran through their setlist, a public practice session. The stage crew ironed out production problems while technical issues with in-ear monitors caused a lot of stop-starts. To Here Knows When, the centrepiece of Loveless, was attempted twice and abandoned. On Saturday, there were no such problems, Butcherās breathy vocals wrapped around Shieldsā swirling guitar lines. It was stunning.
A familiar looped drum pattern drops and the band launch into Soon. The song, the climax to a million indie discos in the 1990s, gets the biggest cheer of the night. The other deafening cheer happens when Shields dedicates the gig to Mani, the Stone Rosesā bass player who died last week. Shields and Mani played together for years in Primal Scream.
They finish with early singles Feed Me With Your Kiss and You Made Me Realise.Punters gazed open-mouthed in shock at the latterās āholocaustā middle section. It was epic.
In the 37 years since MBV unleashed Isnāt Anything, their Creation Recordsā debut, various pretenders have been pulled along in the bandās slipstream. MBV return, plug in and in seconds blow everyone else away. The masters showed us how itās done. MBV invented it, we listened in ecstatic awe.
The lights went up and the Stone Rosesās Waterfall played over the PA, a beautiful tribute to Mani.
They normally donāt play it. Iāve seen them three times without it.
I would think that is one of the greatest gigs I have ever been at. Certainly top 3 in my lifetime.
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Thatās some benchmark!