Secret Meeting score: 78

by Philip Moss

It’s just five months short of five years since My Bloody Valentine last performed together at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, and in typical fashion for the band, not a lot has been heard of them since. That being until a couple of months ago when word began to filter through that their leader, Kevin Shields, had gone back to their 1991 magnus opus, Loveless – again – to prepare for an upcoming a vinyl reissue. And that they were reportedly back together as a four piece in preparation for a performance as part of the Robert Smith curated Meltdown Festival in London, plus a one off ‘warm up’ gig at the tiny Birmingham Institute.

Now, My Bloody Valentine shows are primarily synonymous with one thing: volume. And on the way into the venue, the security staff were dishing out earplugs. But before they were inserted, it was clear from the accents that filled the room that, like me, a vast number of the crowd had travelled far and wide – with one girl I’d spotted on Twitter having made the bus journey over from Utrecht!

Taking to the stage just over half an hour late, the band burst into the Loveless one-two of I Only Said and When You Sleep, but it was instantly clear that, unfortunately, the band were encountering more difficulties than I had on my drive down the M6 from Preston at Friday tea time. With a couple of songs needing re-starts, and sections feeling somewhat under rehearsed, the cobwebs were still very much being shaken off. Kevin Shields’ cacophonous whirlwind of guitars was drifting in and out of consciousness, with the Dubliner waving his arms frantically at his support team, resulting in him cutting an agitated figure throughout, before mumbling to the crowd, ‘This sounds really bad!’

Throughout the set, the vocals of Shields and Bilinda Butcher were also buried, even by the Valentine’s standards, with much of the set feeling more post-rock than shoegaze, but the rhythm section of bassist, Googe, and drummer, Colm Ó Cíosóig, meant that despite any technical issues, the foundations were absolutely lung busting. Having covered tracks from all three studio albums, including a glorious version of Soon, which even evoked a little crowd surfing action, the hour and a half set was closed with the lead track from their 1988 EP, You Made Me Realise- including a fifteen minute blast of the repetitively deafening single chord ‘holocaust section’.

So while many left the Institute feeling rather frustratingly bewildered at what they’d experienced (at the time, myself included), on reflection there was still more than enough glimmers of magic to prove that this is a band that is still very much relevant in 2018. And eighteen hours later, my ears – and mind – are still buzzing.

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