My Bloody Valentine, Glasgow review: 'still punishingly loud'
Volume remains My Bloody Valentine’s USP, and they played this Glasgow show with the dial turned up to 11, writes Fiona Shepherd
My Bloody Valentine, Hydro, Glasgow ★★★★
Phones down and (supplied) ear plugs in for this rare sighting of perfectionist indie innovators My Bloody Valentine. They may not have released any new music for over a decade but one thing is for sure, these guys are still punishingly loud. Having stripped the paint off the walls of any number of scuzzy clubs and halls over the years, the Anglo-Irish quartet have now made the intrepid leap to arena shows with a suitably sized-up light and visual show.
Stage presence is certainly not their strong point, though frontman Kevin Shields is getting almost loquacious in older age. Volume remains their USP and they hit with the dial already up to 11, adding freaky frequencies to the melee. The venue felt a little cavernous in the gaps between songs but they could easily fill the space with their helter-skelter drumming, rumbling bass and ferocious sawing guitar, with hands blurred in the velocity of their strumming.
Vocals were still somewhat buried in the mix but their intoxicating melodies were more discernible than on previous outings, It was now possible to appreciate the swooning interplay between Bilinda Butcher and Shields while bassist Deb Googe's and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig propelled proceedings. It was a pleasure to be reacquainted with Ó Cíosóig’s relentless style, athletic, loose-limbed or precision drill hammer as required.
The set ranged widely across their three albums and handful of EPs from the nosebleed onslaught of You Never Should to the drowsy but driving Cigarette In Your Bed. Only Shallow was grinding and heady, To Here Knows When ethereal yet thunderous. The shuffling groove of Soon was about the only thing that dated the track to the early 90s; elsewhere, there was a disorientating timelessness to the blunt punk of Feed Me With Your Kiss and the urgent, almost exultant You Made Me Realize which closed the show with its customary extended noise breakdown to finish off those eardrums good and proper.
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