FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Vice Blog

LONDON - KEVIN SHIELDS '08 COMEBACK

I went to see My Bloody Valentine’s first show in 16 years at the ICA last night and my mind was totally blown. Barry Hogan and Shaun Kendrick from ATP were trying to give me a pair of earplugs before the gig and I was like: "Err I’m not a pussy" but when the show finished (after what felt like 15 minutes of the most intense and loud noise I have seen outside of Whitehouse or Neurosis concerts) I could barely hear anything anybody was saying. My ears are still ringing and they hurt. I think I may have actually caused permanent damage…

Advertisement

The setlist was all old songs performed with more volume than literally any group I have ever seen in more than 20 years of going to loud shows about three times a week.

For some reason Kevin looks five years younger than he does in the Soft Focus interviews we did last year at the Old Blue Last. His stage set included about four Hi-Watt amps and an Orange or two and about eight thousands monitors. He took about a third of the stage himself and must have played about nine different guitars. Belinda was playing this awesome cherry red sparkling custom-made guitar which was made by a French guy that Douglas Hart introduced me to before the show briefly. Wish I could remember his name because the guitars looked beautiful.

The projections were 90 per cent made by Douglas, who’s been working closely with the group on these comeback shows. They looked like they could have been sourced from footage of armies marching in World War II mixed with a creepy psychedelic Nosferatu vibe.

Many many thanks to Charlotte Marionneau from Le Volume Courbe, who Douglas is playing with now, for getting me the two tickets. Check out Le Volume Courbe here.

Here’s a camera phone clip that’s really crappy quality but gives a good feeling of what it was like. If you like MBV or are even vaguely a fan of loud music you’ve gotta try and get into the Roundhouse shows because the sound at those things is going to be fucking insane. I’m still buzzing after last night. Wow.

ANDY CAPPER

The set list was:
'Only Shallow'
'You Never Should'
'Honey Power'
'I Only Said'
'Cigarette In Your Bed'
'Thorn'
'Nothing Much To Lose'
'To Here Knows When'
'When You Sleep'
'Slow'
'Blown A Wish'
'Soon'
'Feed Me With Your Kiss'
'Sueisfine'
'You Made Me Realise'