It’s been a long 21 years since Irish shoegazing band My Bloody Valentine last visited Australia, and last week they left their fans divided in opinion.
It was set to be a great night playing at Brisbane’s Tivoli, one of the city’s finest concert venues and with support from Australia’s very own Morning After Girls.
The support band got the night started in a big way with a huge sound that filled the room from end to end. The bass was heavy enough to shake the cups of beer in the audience’s hands whilst the drums kept pounding away at everyone’s chest.
The tempo of the music was in fact very chilled and the progressive five-piece band did their job at getting the crowd warmed up very well.
By the time the Irish four piece hit the stage the crowd were well and truly amped up and ready to go. A heavy instrumental opened up the set and the first song “I Only Said”.
Continuing into “When You Sleep” and “New You”, the band was accompanied on stage by some very large and impressive graphics that were projected all over the walls surrounding the stage creating a very trippy scene for the punters.
As the third song of the setlist finished, it soon became apparent that there was one thing on everyone’s minds, where the hell are the vocals? With the band playing on with “You Never Should”, the audience were left looking at each other confused as to whether or not anyone was actually singing.
One trip out to the smoking area and away from the noise for a few moments confirmed this with a number of unhappy fans discussing the sheer disappointment in finally getting to see the band but not being able to hear a single lyric.
Returning to the room and the band are now strutting their stuff on “Come In Alone”, a song that is almost halfway through the setlist and yet the sound mix is still as bad as when they took to the stage.
Wrapping up the night with songs such as “Soon”, “Feed Me With Your Kiss” and “You Made Me Realise”, the band manage to accomplish something else and completely make the ending of a set unbearable.
Hitting the last note of the last song and the band do what most bands do and keep it going for a bit to create that big finish, however, instead of just rocking it for 30 seconds or so, they decide to strum away at the one note for a solid 10 minutes.
By the time the two minute mark passes fingers start getting jammed into ears, the patrons begin to leave and anyone remaining is just looking around at each other wondering what the hell is going on.
Kudos to the drummer for what must have been a mammoth effort but all in all…
While the intention of My Bloody Valentine’s style is to challenge the audience – with the indistinct vocals and intense volumes – for those not prepared for them or their zeitgeist, the group were mildly disappointing, and even confusing.
