GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE

Who
My Bloody Valentine
Support
Le Volume Courbe
Where
Birmingham O2 Academy
When
8th March 2013
Price
£25.00
Who with
No-one
Position
In the middle
Comments
I first heard Loveless way back in 2000/01 at around the same time I got into The Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants, Soulwax and others courtesy of the same fantastic mate lending me things. I can't say I ever really got into it but over time I listened to the album a good few times and eventually it all started to seep in a bit, although the only song I ever got to love was the overlooked Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside) from their debut album. Nevertheless My Bloody Valentine remained a band I admired and "knew" to be good but I never quite made the connection. I missed the chance to see them on their comeback in 2008 but as far as I can gather they never got any closer to me than London anyway. I was intrigued by tales of how loud they were and took note that You Made Me Realise was the crazy-loud song to be watching out for. By the time I found out that they were touring again they were very high on my list and I knew I had to go. I was pretty fast off the mark in buying their reissued albums and ordering the new MBV album the week it came out. Considering the world had been waiting 22 years for new material it was a pretty good time to be seeing them live! It was a bit of a joke that the reissues had taken so long to do and that they came out with practically no sleeve notes and two versions of Loveless, which not only sounded identical to each other but identical to the original release. Just what had Kevin Shields been messing about with, can his ears hear something mine can't? I suspect it's all in his mind, as playing like he does must have at least partially deafened him!

I allowed Loveless to seep in a bit more but still feel it would sound better if they'd mixed it properly so the vocals aren't all buried underneath a barrage of noise, which itself struggles to be heard properly. After listening on YouTube to their brilliant (and fitting) cover version of We Have All The Time In The World and enjoying the immediately of their EP's it's crazy to think how much better they could have been if they'd got in a decent producer who could keep Kevin Shields in check and got him working at a sensible rate. I didn't try particularly hard to persuade anyone to come along with me as I take great pride in my reputation and wasn't prepared to promise anyone they'd enjoy a band who are clearly an acquired taste that even I'm struggling with after 13 long years! I made it known to the mate who'd got me into them that I was going to be braving their live show and asked for his thoughts, getting no direct response but later reading his comments about their being so ridiculously loud it both damaged his ears and undermined the listening experience as they couldn't be heard properly. Eeek! Upon purchasing the new album I downloaded a copy on MP3 and received the CD copy at the tail end of February, and I had much to look forwards to in the month of March 2013. After four long months away from the world of gigging I had My Bloody Valentine followed by Status Quo - both with their original line-ups - before celebrating my birthday with Rolf Harris. I was pleased to be expanding my experiences and demonstrating some very real variety in taste!

In fact this was to be the first show of their tour, following on from some shows in the Far East and Australia. Sadly it wasn't the first UK show as they'd also done a January date in London, but it was their first UK performance since the new album had dropped so was a genuine landmark event. I was able to take advantage of it being a Friday night by leaving my stuff at work then heading straight into Birmingham, having plenty of time to hang around before the doors opened surprisingly early at 6:30pm. I was feeling pretty good and not in the slightest bit tired, which is impressive as a show after work can be taxing sometimes. I popped into Superdrug to purchase some earplugs for the first time ever because I didn't want to be deafened for life for the sake of some feedback. I had plenty of great gigs booked for 2013 already and had no intention of ruining them, even though it felt like I was cheating a bit. I was also a bit concerned that I'd be seeing a band famous for their sonics in a venue famous for shite sound quality, and wondered if Birmingham Academy would undermine their noisescape anyway. Birmingham was pretty busy so I decided to wander towards the Arcadian, finding a Latin American restaurant called Las Iguanas which seemed intriguing. It was a wet and miserable day and the menu outside was barely visible through the fogged-up glass but I saw just about enough to tempt me inside.

I could have spent less than half as much at Wetherspoons but I hadn't been out much so far in 2013 so was happy to treat myself, kicking off with two Caipirinha's for £6 from their happy hour drinks menu. I wanted the lamb shank but they'd ran out, so got a stew which apparently is the "Brazilian national dish", which is funny as I don't remember seeing it out there! I passed the time by playing some Sudoku - completing the easy and medium difficulty levels faster than expected - and finished the meal with a pint of Brahma, which may have tasted like it did in Brazil but was in fact brewed in London. I then headed to the Spoons opposite and experienced an Erdinger on tap served in the proper glass, which was great in theory but didn't seem to taste quite right. I was still impressed enough by the whole experience that I made moves to switch my birthday piss-up to Birmingham though! I went to exit the pub but was heckled by a former work colleague who was one of the best people I could hope to meet seeing as he was a few years older and had a strong liking for early 90's music. As soon as he found out who I was seeing tonight he was happy to ditch his mate and come along to tout a ticket, heading towards the venue with me and straight away being offered one for £20 outside, or £28 "on the door", as opposed to the £27ish I'd paid. As he hadn't thought to get any cash out though we had to go our separate ways, agreeing to hopefully meet slap bang in the centre of the venue at some point in the show.

Sadly I never saw him again as he eventually decided £20 was too expensive, which was a shame for both of us. It helps vindicate my approach of subscribing to every gig email listing imaginable as almost no show slips past me unnoticed. A few months before I'd been persuading him to see The Stone Roses in Finsbury Park - one of my treats later in the year - repeatedly pointing out that tickets were regularly going back on sale and if you just make that bit of effort that there are very, very few shows you can't get to see. I was also still miffed that nobody had taken me up on my offer to see the NME Awards tour, with the stellar line-up of Peace, Palma Violets, Miles Kane and Django Django for an absolute bargain price of £20 on a Saturday night. In the grand scheme of things that's the same cost as a mid-priced meal or a relatively cheap evening of drinking so I never cease to be amazed that others have the audacity to say no and miss out on such monumental events, as with four shit-hot bands playing the chances of it all being crap are negligible. I could console myself once I discovered that Peace had in fact supported Editors and hadn't been that hot, meaning I'd technically seen all of them before except Palma Violets, who I were the least drawn to anyway. Hopefully Django Django will play Wolves so I can see them properly and if all the bands do go on to make it I'll have a chance to say I told you so and my mates may learn to listen to me a bit more when I say something is unmissable, as I'm not prone to exaggerating how good music is!

One strange point was that I didn't see a horde of people outside handing out free earplugs, or paramedics ready to wheel away fans writhing around screaming with their ears bleeding, but it just vindicated my decision to be cautious and to bring my own earplugs. I was inside by 7:30pm but the support band were already onstage, yet it was relatively quiet and I had no problem at all getting an excellent position right in the middle as I'd said I would, comfortably in front of that accursed balcony. Strangely there were people up there, which is unusual as they are in the habit of closing it off for many shows. The support band were Le Volume Courbe, which is French for Volume Curve, who are fronted by French-born, London-based singer/songwriter Charlotte Marionneau according to Wikipedia. Here I am writing up the review less than 48 hours later and I can barely remember a thing about them, except that the guitarist was randomly wearing a poncho and Charlotte made a joke at the end about ensuring we had our earplugs ready. They went down moderately well and probably were slightly above the mediocre standard of support bands I've grown used to over the years, but I've trained myself too well to block out music I don't want to listen to. They were finished well before 8pm - I must have only caught their last few songs - leaving me to wonder if a second support act were lined up, but I could see them taking their sweet time with setting up the stage and knew that the big moment was soon to arrive. The stage was set shortly after 8pm and they left us to wait, before coming back to twiddle with the instruments a bit more and to give us a hint of the noise onslaught that we were to expect.

Throughout all this the crowd filled up a bit but there was amazingly next to no pushing at all, and it was safe to say that the show had sold ok but wasn't a sell-out. There were some big heads in front of me but this didn't really impinge on my enjoyment, and it almost goes without saying that most of the crowd were male. The lights then went down and after what was either a tune from the DJ or a very quiet intro tape the band came onstage well before 9pm to the Loveless onslaught of I Only Said. It was loud - as expected - and the sound quality was arguably the best I'd ever heard from Birmingham Academy, but that's not saying much as the vocals were far, far too quiet in the mix. They followed this with When You Sleep and Kevin's vocals were even quieter in the mix than Bilinda's, that is to say we couldn't hear him at all! As the show went on I think they turned him up a bit, and if the band were more famous for their vocals/lyrics I would have been rather annoyed! Throughout the show the crowd remained muted but appreciative, with some excellent heckles of "louder!" and "turn it up!" which presumably were in jest! I tried wearing my earplugs for the second song but didn't like the way they muffled the sound, although was impressed by just how much they reduced the volume. Quite a few people around me were either wearing earplugs or gazing apprehensively at them, thinking whether to brave it or not. I decided to take them out again as it didn't seem earth-shatteringly loud yet, but it always can be tricky to judge! Throughout the show there was a backing screen which focused on swirling imagery, but this was regularly obscured by some blinding lights which ruined some of the photos that I took on my phone.

One thing that struck me was how good the band looked, as I'm amazed to read that they had formed a full thirty years beforehand. I've just read that Bilinda Butcher is over 50 which is incredible as from my distance she looked younger than me! Colm stayed at the back and quietly bashed the hell out of his equipment, and being able to hear the drums properly in the mix was one of the best things about seeing the band live. Debbie Googe had briefly replaced Mani in Primal Scream and was a calm, collected presence in the centre of the stage whereas Kevin Shields was rocking a mad scientist haircut, appearing far and away the oldest yet carrying his look off. I presume I'd seen him twice before - again with Primal Scream - back in the year 2000 but can't remember, yet I have little doubt that he was the man responsible for the terrifying vibrations I felt outside the Civic Hall back then before we got inside for The Scream! One thing the band deserve full credit for is going against all precedent by coming back with a strong album after an insane 22 year gestation period, although I suspect it may take me 22 years to fully appreciate its depths. The song that stands out a million miles at this stage is New You, which is catchier - and possibly better - than anything on Loveless. Apart from You Made Me Realise - which I instantly loved - this was the tune I was liking the most. I was therefore very happy to hear it and started to enjoy how the sound was coming together as, despite being ridiculously loud with the vocals far too quiet, seeing the live experience gave the songs far more life.

MBV then went back to their debut album for the first of three trips with You Never Should, before they pumped it up even louder with Honey Power. It's quite hard to equate the song titles with the music so in writing this I'm having to remind myself how each one goes, but I was pleased that the early EP's were well represented, in fact the show was an excellent overview of their music over the last 25 years. Cigarette In Your Bed was perhaps the closest we came to a ballad but it still ended with an onslaught of noise, indicating that the reason the band take so long to come onstage is that it actually takes that long just turning the knob for the volume to the required levels! We then had a bit of a treat with the live premiere of Only Tomorrow - or so I've read - and this may be a good place to mention that the band either never said a word to us all night or we simply couldn't hear them! They then returned to Loveless with Come In Alone before the room noticeably perked up for the barrage of classic noise that is Only Shallow. Listening back to it now Thorn sounds almost twee, but it certainly didn't come across like that tonight, and this seems a good point to mention shoegazing as a genre, which by my estimation is defined by anyone sounding like MBV. The band then returned to Isn't Anything for Nothing Much To Lose which largely passed me by, as much of my attention was focused on whether I should be wearing earplugs or not, although I only did so for a few songs. The slight lull continued with To Here Knows When - although it's harsh to call anything in such an onslaught of noise a lull - before the wonderful Slow, which perked a few people up and is one of my very favourites, perhaps by virtue of being after You Made Me Realise on the EP.

It was clear that many of the crowd tonight had invested enough effort to get into Loveless though and Soon is its Magnum opus and continued the excellent home run. Even better though was Feed Me With Your Kiss, which featured the best drumming of the evening and truly rocked everyone's socks off, before we all exchanged looks as we became aware that they'd started to play You Made Me Realise! People didn't go as crazy as I'd expected during the actual song which is a shame as if there was any point that deserved a frantic moshpit this was it. The closest we got to crowd participation was raising our hands in the air during the title phrase of the lyric. I knew what was coming though and the split second the feedback started I was quick to get my earplugs in. More looks were exchanged and it wasn't quite what I'd expected, mirroring a Concorde taking off in a barrage of rumbling rather than anything resembling a tune. They gradually got into it and seemed to subtly turn the volume up until I could feel the venue vibrating under my feet and the look on everyone's faces as some made a hasty retreat away from the stage. I will never know if the earplugs were an unnecessary caution or if they've saved my hearing for many more years of happy gigging but judging by the awed reaction everyone seemed impressed by the volume! The moment was slightly ruined by a tosser in front of us who seemed to switch off and bump into everyone, causing us to punch him increasingly violently until the noise abated and he calmed down, ironically for the bit of the song that's worth going mad too! The satisfaction of punching him and sense of moral superiority in knowing he fully deserved it perhaps made it all worthwhile though!

One surprise was that the noise segment - or holocaust as it's commonly known as - wasn't as long as I was expecting and I'm sure it was all drawn to a close within 10 or 15 minutes. Even though it was barely 10pm I'd presumed this to be the end so was surprised that the band remained onstage to play Wonder 2, another live premiere! This is the closer from the MBV album and is something of a barrage of noise in itself but this time I resisted the earplugs for most/all of it and I'm pleased to report that my hearing was fine afterwards. You've got to wonder what effect all this noise has on the band themselves? Despite the early hour the band had played quite long enough and there was no hint of an encore, or indeed much point in doing one. I looked at my watch and wondered if I could get an earlier train home, but didn't know what time it would be. Once out though I was tempted to stop and take some photos of the band's name lit up American-style on the sign outside, resisting the dodgy t-shirt vendors as I didn't have much change left. On the walk back I sidestepped a guy who'd collapsed as his friend was helping him up, wondering if he'd been overwhelmed by the noise - which would've been pretty noteworthy - or if he was just a drunken tosser who couldn't control himself. In fact I arrived in such good time for my train I could have stopped over for a McFlurry, but nevermind. As I didn't trust the text facility on my so-called smart phone to save things and had no paper handy I resisted the urge to make any notes, although did some once I arrived back home.

On the train journey I initially heard some choice MBV songs before deciding I'd enjoy Kraftwerk even more and switching tunes. Kraftwerk are pretty much the top band on my to see list now and I just wish they'd tour properly rather than fannying about with small-scale but technically complex shows which nobody can actually get tickets for. Despite not moshing very much I felt quite sweaty and my heart was pounding, although how much of that was due to the actual noise or if it was just the sense of excitement in subjecting myself to the supposed loudest band of all time I cannot say. Due to the earplugs used and the passage of time I can't quite judge them against everyone I've ever seen. My ears were barely whistling suggesting perhaps MBV - or the venue - had toned it down, or that the ridiculous volume is reserved mainly for the holocaust segment. Slipknot and Faithless stand out for me as particularly noisy, and a special mention must go to early SFA, but I suspect Alec Empire is still the loudest I've ever seen as he gave us a particularly brutal barrage of noise via a computer onstage. Maybe my hearing has just changed over time and I can now "take" the noise, it's so difficult to compare! They'd played six out of eleven songs on Loveless - which was pretty good - and just three out of nine from MBV, which showed some respect for the fact we didn't know it well, yet it was funny as you'd had thought they'd had been dying to play new stuff! As expected Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside) wasn't played, which is a shame but apparently they've overlooked it since 1990, and would it have killed them to have played Loomer and Touched, which are short but very sweet songs? I'll be surprised if I ever see MBV again but give me another ten years to get into the tunes even more, and if they could learn to turn down their instruments and turn up their vocals, then I'd be happy to come back for more.
Setlist
I Only Said
When You Sleep
New You
You Never Should
Honey Power
Cigarette In Your Bed
Only Tomorrow
Come In Alone
Only Shallow
Thorn
Nothing Much To Lose
To Here Knows When
Slow
Soon
Feed Me With Your Kiss
You Made Me Realise
Wonder 2

Mark: 7.5/10