mbv at palladium last night. since my man superbligged84 didn't make it out, here's a quick recap: they fucking owned. i usually expect reunion shows to be weak/boring/uninspired/awkward [i.e. mission of burma], but this was one of the best shows i've seen.
after darkening the stage and then making everyone wait around for 30 more minutes, they came out and opened with "i only said," my all time favorite. the video above doesn't do it justice because it doesn't catch the epic low-end. that shit hit hard. as i recall, they used a drum machine on some of the tracks on loveless, but it was so much better with a live drummer. true to form, they kept the vocals buried in the mix, to the point that you basically couldn't even hear them. like the records, they're just there for texture.
then there was the closer: "you made me realise," complete with a 15 minute noise interlude. and a completely disorienting/seizure inducing light show. words can't describe; you had to be there to experience it. it was like being inside a jet airplane engine. after a while, it felt like you were floating in a sea of vibrations. an aural apocalypse. utterly transcendent.
from the decider:
In the midst of the noise, it was hard to believe it was happening at all—much like the show itself. Some in the crowd raised their arms in welcome, but most just cupped their already-plugged ears, bowed their heads, and gritted their teeth to wait it out. Raging on for approximately 13 minutes, it was a total sensory assault, with the stage lighting similarly pushed to its limits. You could feel the sound vibrating through your clothes and making your hair stand up. Scariest of all, there was no way of telling when it was going to end. Moments before bassist Debbie Googe cued the song's conclusion, there was a subtle climactic build, but before that, it was nothing but white noise that could have gone on for 30 more seconds or 30 more minutes.
wsjr has a more full review here.
read a review of the austin show here.
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