The Return Of My Bloody Valentine

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.

they won't...let's be real...

haha, is everyone still totally skeptical about future MBV plans? i was wondering myself ... is this it? will they become a regular touring act? actually write/record new music? or just disappear into the bliding white light?

blinding

I'm incredibly skeptical. But as for the last option:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2909337572_6c5089a7fd.jpg?

Whoops:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2909337572_6c5089a7fd.jpg

annnnnd they're gone

is everyone still totally skeptical about future MBV plans?

I'm completely skeptical... Even if they did nothing else, I'm just happy that I got a chance to see them.

ML Compton OTM BTW... The sound on the second night was brilliant.

Very noticeable in small details -- the sound of the drums on "To Here Knows When" for instance, but also the sheer clarity of "Soon." Both times in 1992 they didn't quite get that all over precision-point feeling live.

Some more audio background: http://www.audioprointernational.com/features/53/Lose-yourself-in-sound

Brennan has been doing live sound for the last 20 years, working with bands such as Primal Scream, The Cure, Mogwai and many others. Once he was hired for the MBV tour, he began attending rehearsals to pick out the gear that would be used for the live shows. He says: “I started dropping in on their rehearsals and every time I showed up there was a new guitar amp or some other piece of kit, and I could see the whole show building. We ended up using 78 inputs, and that is not being self-indulgent, we have single mics on each amp and there is nothing I can live without.”

With a strict analog-only mandate for the show imposed by Shields, Brennan decided to use the Midas XL4 as it was his board of choice before he started using digital desks. He also revisited the board while working on the final show of The Cure’s tour last year.

...

“I picked out some really tasty Manley valve compressors to use across Kevin’s guitars and the drums as well as a C2 compressor. The Crush button on the C2 gives us the full stereo mix of the drums. I will never mix drums without one of them again.”

Another piece of outboard that has been essential to the tour is a TC Helicon VoicePro. “It is a great bit of kit because it records the vocal at the output stage in real time, processes it and plays it back in real time so they are kind of like vocal doublers,” says Brennan.

...

“Similar to the Dead’s system, we have a few loudspeakers running specific things like Kevin’s guitars, which is essential because they are such quiet singers, and to get the vocals above the music I have to dedicate some speakers to the vocals. The band is extremely loud, but it is essential to get the vocals out there because they are as strong as any Beach Boys or Beatles melodies.

“I have control over every element of the PA, so during You Made Me Realise I can just turn up a few knobs and the mix comes out of every speaker. It is getting pretty interesting now; we are starting to think about surround sound for the live show. I want to start talking to Shields about putting up some speakers in the back and just fucking with people’s heads for a bit.

“Shields wants people to be surrounded by sound; he does not like the idea of the sound being louder in the front than it is in the back of the room. The live environment is mostly generated by what is coming out of his guitars. It starts out at 30 Hertz and goes up to 20 k; that is the full spectrum of frequencies all the time, and I just simply amplify that.

Brennan insists the excessive sound and noise levels during the shows are not intended merely for an added shock factor. “Shield’s has a total plan; it is totally orchestrated. If you really listen, he is playing little parts and little bits and looping them during You Made Me Realise and still keeping that outrageous noise going. He has a master plan of the journey that he wants to take people on sonically. He knows exactly where he wants it to go, and I put in some sub stuff to add to the dynamics of what is going on.

Both times in 1992 they didn't quite get that all over precision-point feeling live.

If I ever get a chance to talk to Shields, that would be my first question... If 2008 state-of-the-art audio tech has caught up to what he was trying to get at in 1992.

i think they'll make a record. they're recording for the rest of this year. i think the configuration of what comes out and when is a bigger question mark than whether it happens or not; they've always wanted to release the old stuff (see buddyhead interview), and there must be enough songs for a new record. their problem wasn't indolence; they could work, but it happened in spasms, and a lot of the time they were spending on loveless was writing the material and experimenting with sounds. we'll see, but i still totally expect to hear something new or new/old next year.

did anyone else hear that isn't anything remaster? listening to that and fondly stroking my t-shirt and memories is exciting enough to keep me entertained for now.

Stop fondly stroking your memories in public

Oh wait

Chris, he should be answering that question for my friend Josh today.

i very much meant stroking my memories.
also: i went to la monte younge's dream house a couple of nights after seeing mbv in ny: kind of similar.