After almost five years away from the stage, this weekend saw Irish rockers My Bloody Valentine play the first date of a long-awaited headline tour over in England.
In September of last year, My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields was announced to be performing in Iceland as part of Sigur Rós’ Norður og Niður festival. The festival’s website also happened to note that Shields’ band was set to be releasing a new album in 2018. Understandably, this drove fans wild with anticipation about what the next year is set to hold.
Then, in April of this year, My Bloody Valentine announced a number of performances around the world, their first since their world tour in 2013 which also saw the group visit Australia for the first time in more than 20 years. Needless to say, the very announcement of these dates was some of the biggest news that the group’s fans had seen in almost half a decade.
Now, My Bloody Valentine have finally kicked off their tour, performing a warm-up show at England’s O2 Institute on Friday night.
As Pitchfork reports, fans of the famously-deafening group were given earplugs upon arrival, before being treated to a set which consisted of tracks from the majority of the group’s back catalogue, despite a number of technical issues.
While My Bloody Valentine are yet to announce any Australian dates, fans are hoping they won’t have to wait another 20 years for the group to come back.
The band’s last album, the surprise mbv, was released back in 2013 after a 22-year gap, frontman Kevin Shields has noted that the group are set to release a new “sprawling EP” sometime in the future.
“I’m gonna do a couple of them before I do an album,” Shields explained to NPR’s All Songs Considered back in March. “I just want to mix it up a bit and get away from my, every 22 years I make an album and then tour and disappear for five years.”
So if you’re keen on hearing a bit of new material from the group, be sure to scour social media for live clips of the band on their current tour. In the meantime, let’s hope they’re on track to come back to Australia sometime… soon.
Check out My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Soon’:
My Bloody Valentine @ O2 Institute, Birmingham, England 22/06/18 Setlist
‘I Only Said’
’When You Sleep’
‘New You’
‘You Never Should’
‘Honey Power’
‘Cigarette In Your Bed’
‘Only Tomorrow’
‘Only Shallow’
‘What You Want’
‘Nothing Much To Lose’
‘Who Sees You’
‘Slow’
‘Soon’
‘Wonder 2’
‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’
‘You Made Me Realise’
