Final Post: Last two shows: London and Glasgow, before Japan.

Nov 25th, OVO Arena, Wembley, London, England

After the Manchester show, I knew they would be able to get over that hump with so much on the line. Partly due to the fact there is a lot on the line at a place like the OVO Arena, but also just due to the complexity of MBV's equipment set up, an arena is a much more controlled environment. 

With J Masics opening, it felt more like a family affair from the start. J's set was loose and acoustic, but with all of the shredding and fuzz you'd expect. (It was acoustic in the sense that he used an acoustic guitar with a pickup attached.) This sort of looseness J laid out on stage helped this show when MBV started at 9 PM, pretty much on the dot.

You could tell right away the band seemed more comfortable, even though they were playing to twice the number of people at the Manchester gig. 'New You' still had some hiccups and 'Only Tomorrow' had a few false starts. But they plowed ahead, and Kevin seemed to reward himself by dusting the cobwebs off with some Ramones riffs right after. After doing that band seemed to take it up a notch.  'Only Shallow' seemed particularly heavy tonight, as if they finally perfected that song during this tour. Even more so than 3ARENA, the engulfment of sound was huge, as if this test to see if they could bring that physical feeling of sound flowing through you to an arena that goes beyond just the hype of a 'hometown' show.

Everything that went wrong with 'Soon' in Manchester was completely corrected. People were entranced with the forceful bass and strong grooves and pulses running through it, dancing as if no one was watching, either forgetting or not caring we live in a Web 2.0 world; they were most certainly being captured on someone's camera. The most 'losing your mind' moment, for those who never had a chance to see MBV live due to age or opportunity was, you guessed it, 'You Made Me Realise.' (YMMR)

Though the Dublin show was an arena, just due to the excitement of that show, and the force MBV played with, that Dublin show felt smaller than it was, like a club show. Wembley felt like an arena show through and through. YMMR was a test. Could the people at an arena really embrace YMMR and its noise section? I can say, 'Yes.' Pretty much everyone there was excited to take that journey, to witness something that no other band on earth can do in the same way. It felt like a triumphant lap not only for MBV, and that song, but all it's offspring. 

If 1991 was the year punk broke, for some, 2026 could be the year noise broke. The lineage from Throbbing Gristle's first ablum in 1977 and the two guitar attack of Japanese noise innovators Hijokaidan in 1979, to everything in between and after, was there on display. It was something to behold. 

Ovo Hydro, Glasgow, Nov. 27, 2025

Nov 27th, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland

While London was great, and a complete 180 from a few nights before in Mancheser, I still felt there was unrealized potential, another height they could surpass. Tonight was the final night of this small, but meaningful tour. Seeing the 3 shows prior, I wasn't sure if anything could surprise me. This was an arena as well, a bit smaller than Wembley, but it only reinforced the idea that MBV can play arenas (at least in Ireland, Europe and the UK). I knew we wouldn't be getting any new songs, but that's ok.

J Masics opened for MBV again. He was loose, channeling an almost On The Beach era Neil Young type sound, if he was a fan of Negative Approach - a pioneering hardcore band from the Mid-West.

Because this was the last night, I wanted to take it all in. The band made it a point to ask for people to refrain from using cell phone to take photos or video during their set, reinforcing my sense that this was something special was coming to a close. From the jump, 'I Only Said' felt tight, going right into 'When You Sleep,' which drew cheers right away. While some of the m b v material seemed to give them trouble, tonight the songs had no problems - minus one false start which is just part of the experience. 'Off Your Face' was the best version I've heard out of the four shows I saw. (Before their warm-up show on November 19th, it had never been played live.) And 'Only Shallow' felt like they finally perfected it tonight, leaning into what makes that song one of MBV's heaviest.

Song after song, it felt like the four previous shows had been leading up to these moments. The band was playful. It may have been just be a coincidence, but Shields was riffing on a what I thought was a particular Germs song.

Tonight the band was a live organism, walking the delicate line of adding muscle and beauty to these songs without losing control; taking the almost punk feel of the Dublin show but keeping the discipline necessary for an arena. I was witnessing MBV at the top of their game, displaying why all the trouble to bring about Shields's vision of what their live show could be - with all its gear, false starts, and breakdowns - was worth it. In my mind, this was the sound Kevin has been working toward ever since he decided to reunite and play live in 2008. Even 'Wonder 2' sounded like some of the descriptions: a jet plane or bird struggling to take off in a storm of drum and bass.

I knew YMMR would be the highlight, and I was not wrong. The band was - for lack of a more specific term - feeling it. So much so, we got almost 10 minutes of noise bliss. If the show on the 25th was that victory lap for this song and then the noise section tonight was the flag plant that unequivically says, 'Minds are open, ready, and able to expand outside the confines of pop music, song structure, and the typical sounds of guitar based music.' Shields and MBV had gotten themselves here and brought the along after years of hard work and dozens of shows in which they didn't yet have the equipment or control to pull it off.

This was THE MBV show to see. It went beyond thinking 'everyone's jaws were on the floor,' or any other qualifier. Tonight MBV showed they are best live band on the planet, doing what no other band has attempted much less pulled off. Considering all of that powerful equipment, all of the attention to sound, there is more at risk than ever....that line between a new transcendane during a live show, and something that can implode is finer than ever and it is what made this tour better than any of the other MBV tours

A blog post, or status update, will not due to announce what they have achieved. This belongs on the front page or the cover of a magazine. They proved that it could all come together to give thousands of people a transcendent experience, giving yourself over to sound. And that experience with those around you is something only you can understand when being in the moment. That moment is why all of the years of waiting are worth it. Was 2008 better? Was 2008 louder? Does it matter when in 2025 you are witnessing a band at the height of it's powers.

Kevin remarked, 'Did you notice they lit up the arena pink tonight for us? You could actually feel how proud he was of just that fact alone. 

That dark pink color, and other shades of red, on the jacket of Loveless, and inner sleeves, is associated with the massive force of sound from a Jazzmaster and a ton of amps. We noticed, and we were all proud to see that arena lit up for all of Glasgow and the world to see.