My Bloody Valentine – Come In Alone (Live)

I have to say that despite their unanimous acclaim, My Bloody Valentine never really grabbed me much. Personally, I am not sure if they would even grab a top 100 spot of my favorite bands, and now that I think about it, probably would not even grab a top five spot of my favorite bands that fall in the shoe-gazing mold. Let me see: if including Jesus and Mary Chain, which by all rights I should, and, along with Chapterhouse, Ultra Vivid Scene, Medicine, Swervedriver, and Curve and with the recent additions of Film School and A Place to Bury Strangers, MBV might not crack my top 10.

The recent much anticipated MBV shows at Roseland (I went to 2nd night) didn’t do anything to improve their standing in my book. Granted, there were many problems with the show that MBV couldn’t be blamed for like terrible sound (I know MBV vocals are buried but crikey) and insanely over-crowded venue. Whatever the case, in this year of exemplary rock shows, this show, to date, is in the lead for worst show of the year and that includes Christian Death! (see July 02 post)

This MBV show was very likely the loudest show I have ever heard. And I mean ever. Since I record shows, I pay attention to recording levels and this one was nuts off the charts. The final song sounded like two guitarists strumming over a full-throttle jet engine which droned on for 15 minutes. At that point in the show I was nowhere near the front and it was still psycho loud. This is conjecture since I was in the back of the venue but it seemed that some of their instrumentation was pre-recorded. I can’t confirm this but the guitarists didn’t seem to be doing much other then idly strumming their guitars making the source of the many of their trademark melodic bits a bit suspect. Even the the bowel clearing jet engine sound featured in their final song didn’t seem to come out of ingeniously fed-back guitar work but rather seemed taped in, which if true, is pretty wack. I, for one, would be mighty pissed if I sustained notable and permanent ear damage (and if you didn’t have ear plugs, you did) due to a canned jet engine sound.
[audio: http://thesoundofindie.com/archive/2008/20081017/MBV-ComeInAlone.mp3|titles=Come In Alone (Live)|artists=My Bloody Valentine]
Download: My Bloody Valentine – Come In Alone (Live)