Show Recap: My Bloody Valentine [Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, 9/27/08]

Sorry this is getting posted a few days later than anticipated. I got quite sick after the show (but not as a result of it, I assure you) and have just now recovered. Everything's back to normal (hopefully)!

Was I really awake, or was it all just a fantastic dream? That's the question I kept asking myself while watching My Bloody Valentine perform at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago this past Saturday. Their show really was composed of the things that dreams are made of- from the hazily gorgeous video projections behind the band to the fuzzed-out guitars that completely paralyzed the audience. I would suggest that everyone was staring at the stage in slack-jawed bliss, but the purposely blinding light setup took the concepts of shoegaze and dream pop to new levels as everyone was all but forced to either stare at their feet or shut their eyes. Several glances at the people around me confirmed this. There was no moshing. No head-banging. Not even head bobbing or toe tapping. The show, much like the 15-minute single note on intense closer "You Made Me Realise," held everyone firmly in place for the entire duration.

"That was clearly one of the worst crowds at a show ever. Did you see that? They were all just standing there like idiots. I mean really. The guitars were loud. It's not like the songs were slow or anything except for maybe one, so everyone should've been jumping around. One guy even gave me a really dirty look when I jumped and accidentally ran into him. That crowd was just so terrible man, and it really hurt my enjoyment of the show."
-Overheard after the show

Clearly the guy I'm quoting above didn't "get it." He was there to rock out, and probably would've been much more at home at a Korn show but for some reason felt My Bloody valentine was in a similar vein. Inevitably, there are always people who will witness a piece of great art and not understand the point. Just like how you can't expect 100% of the people in a crowd of thousands to walk away from a My Bloody valentine show with their minds blown. While the vast majority of MBV reunion show reviews have been pretty strong (with comments like "I loved the show" and "they stuck to “Loveless”-era music at the sold-out ballroom, as if to prove how well the music had aged. Indeed, it still sounded like the future"), there are, naturally, the occasional detractors ("a technological revolution has taken place in digital sampling and real-time computer looping, but the once groundbreaking musicians seemed to be unaware of it. The tinkling, toy-like keyboard loops that weave in and out of the dense mix on record were only cursorily evoked onstage, and the triggered drum parts that augmented O'Ciosoig's animated live kit-bashing sounded leaden and clumsy").Chances are you're on one side of the fence or the other, as I doubt anybody walks out of a My Bloody Valentine show saying "eh, that was just okay." But in case you're looking to read yet another swooning live review, look no farther than right here.

To start, earplugs were readily available at the door. They came recommended by the band, and if you wanted to avoid going deaf, you took a pair. I didn't have the guts to ever remove them (and am thankful my ears were in reasonable shape afterwards as a result), but a friend of mine wanted to experience the thrill for a few moments during a white noise passage and basically told me the earplugs enhanced the auditory experience because it was far too painful otherwise.

The show opened rather simply, with a few plain lights on the stage shining downwards after the house lights went out. The pre-show music kept playing, and after a few minutes the band just strolled out on stage in a very nonchalant manner. Things kicked into high gear from the first note of "I Only Said," with the projector in full effect and strategically placed strobe lights flashing on and off at quick intervals similar to a full-on paparazzi attack in L.A. Now I know what Lindsay Lohan goes through on a daily basis, only I had a much better soundtrack to deal with such trauma to my eyes. This strategically led to keeping my eyes closed or aimed firmly at the ground below me.

I took no photos or set list notes in order to stay focused on exactly what was happening and to allow myself to drift off amid the soundscape. I cannot compare the relative brilliance of this performance with anything the band did in the early 90s, because I was kindly trapped in grade school at the time and had never heard of the band. From what I've read about those shows 15 years ago though, it seems 15-minute set closer "You Made Me Realise" used to clear out an entire venue before it reached the climax. Knowing this going in, I watched for people around me to leave as the singular note dragged on and on and shook the entire venue like a rocket ship taking off. Two people left about 8 minutes in. Everybody else stayed and I overheard a couple people after the show saying they were surprised so many stuck around through that lengthy journey.

The Aragon is well known for their crappy sound, but seeing as how Kevin Shields is an audio perfectionist and brought a massively expensive sound setup with him, they did about as well as they could do given the venue. The first few songs of the set might as well have been instrumentals, as either the microphones weren't turned up high enough or they were purposely kept lower to mix effortlessly with the washed-out guitars as simply another instrument. I did pick up on the vocals later in the set though, which was something of a relief because it helped me keep track of where we were in a song. Then again, in creating such a dream-like state, perhaps it served everybody best not to think about each individual track but to interpret the performance as a whole. And while there was plenty of song recognition if you're familiar with the band's catalogue, that was less the point and more like icing in the cake. The experience itself is the highlight. The 90 minutes you spend on that floor completely mesmerized by what's happening on stage is the highlight. The individual efforts of Shields, Butcher, Googe and O'Ciosoig overthat duration are the highlights. All of it results in you wandering out of the venue blind, deaf and dumb(founded) because of what you've just been a part of. This is the quintessential My Bloody Valentine show. For those who haven't had the privilege of seeing the band perform, put it on your bucket list and pray they do another tour. If all goes according to plan and there really is a new record coming out early next year, that opportunity could come much sooner than any of us realise.

Set List:
I Only Said
When You Sleep
You Never Should
When You Wake
Cigarette In Your Bed
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

My Bloody Valentine- When You Sleep
My Bloody Valentine- Blown A Wish

Buy "Loveless" (if you haven't already) from Amazon

Labels: concert, my bloody valentine