Everyone Knows That You’re Such Too Soon

My Bloody Valentine @ Hammerstein Ballroom 11/11/2013
Sometimes / I Only Said / When You Sleep / New You / You Never Should / Honey Power / Cigarette In Your Bed / Only Tomorrow / Come In Alone / Only Shallow / Thorn / Nothing Much to Lose / Who Sees You / To Here Knows When / Wonder 2 / Soon / Feed Me With Your Kiss / You Made Me Realise

My Bloody Valentine “Wonder 2”

You know what? This My Bloody Valentine show was loud enough to feel the vibrations from the sound, but not loud enough to make my ears ring. Which is kinda perfect, really, because I was a little afraid of dealing with lasting consequences from seeing this show. The performance was excellent and basically what I’d expected it would be, though the most profound moments weren’t totally expected – I knew “New You” and “To Here Knows When” would hit me hard just because those songs both mean quite a bit to me, but the impact of those performances had more to do with unexpected elements of them coming to the foreground. I was far more connected to Kevin Shields’ tremolo guitar chords in “New You” than I usually am when I hear the studio recording, and “To Here Knows When” felt more abstract and layered, like standing in the middle of a sound installation where subtle layers of noise washed over you. “Wonder 2” was the major revelation of the show. I love the studio recording, but it’s even more gorgeous and alien in concert – the busy beats blare until they stop feeling like percussion, and the other sounds shift between lingering drones and stabbing treble. But still, somehow, the vocals were perfectly mixed, just in this pocket of clarity in the midst of all this overwhelming sound.

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