My Bloody Valentine Live: A Comparison of Dublin and UK Shows by Sean G.

3Arena by Connor Talbot

Sean G. is a friend of mine from the East Coast who has traveled to the UK and Dublin, Ireland, to take in all the official shows. He has seen shows in 2008, 2009, 2013, and 2018. (He missed the warm-up show on Nov. 19th, as he wasn't even in the country yet, and it was announced at the last minute.)

Here is the POP UP MERCH STORE for MBV. I didn't ask him to take a pic with my book, but it was certainly done with the best intentions, and not necessarily to post. But I liked it enough to throw it up here.

National Stadium (unscheduled show): Dublin, Nov. 19th:

Someone I guess who knew the promoter told me the venue that was originally booked had no idea who the band was or the circumstances of the show. The original venue had a capacity of either 200 or 300. Once the venue got word of what kind of band was about to play, and the circumstances, they flat out told MBV that they cannot do the show there. So there was a scramble to find a new venue. This most certainly could not have been a good thing in terms of preparation.

3Arena: Dublin, Nov. 22nd

The first proper show on their schedule was great even with some of its flaws. It felt like they had something to prove. They were on fire mostly, and it felt like they were channeling the Ramones or the energy of even Black Flag at that show, which is not what one expects at an arena of that size.

I should say it’s not premature to call them out for the various miscues. Just be prepared for a lot of pushback. I think—and I understand—a lot of young/first-timers/uber fans really are okay looking past issues or think it’s just trolling. I’m totally aware that negative or even semi-negative content gets more engagement, which sucks, but I also can’t sugarcoat what I’m seeing and hearing.

I spent thousands of dollars to see this tour and I don’t regret a second or a penny, but I also have to be honest with myself.

I truly do appreciate younger people/first-timers, etc., seeing them and losing their minds, but there’s also reality as well. But really the positive is seeing them play to so many people. Time has been great to the work MBV and Kevin have done. They deserve all the praise and new generations of fans. The power is still there. Seeing them live is an experience like no other guitar band on earth.

There were a few miscues, but most people know by now that is just par for the course when you're dealing with music that is so challenging and has so many subtleties that Shields does not want to lose.

I had no real issues with the mix or even "loudness." I think for better or worse, Kevin’s ideal to push volume in 2008 has really been a blessing and a curse. It’s led to this kind of funny lore and expectation.

I was there for the Roundhouse Shows in 2008 (the first series of reunion shows in London) and the American shows in 2008 and 2009, and, yeah, it was punishingly loud. "You Made Me Realise" was mostly in the 15-30 minute range.

Aviva Studio: Manchester, Nov. 24

So I hate to say it, but this may have been the worst gig I’ve seen them do. It’s more than likely the venue's fault, but Kevin’s amps cut out twice. They abandoned "Soon." After that, everything seemed deflated, including the band and Kevin, but even early on something seemed off.

After the second time Kevin’s amps cut, there were 5-20 mins of just awkwardness. The band just standing on stage. I know technical issues are basically always gonna happen at an MBV concert, but this was especially heartbreaking. Early on you can hear Kevin saying "fuck it" right before "Off Your Face." He was having technical issues, I believe, starting that song. The band seemed just out of it.

The weird kind of Q&A last night Kevin was doing during the downtime was semi-interesting but also uncomfortable. What no one has uploaded yet is the actual derailment of the set. I think for a lot of people, and again for younger people, the defense of this set is such that many waited for so long to see them that many are willing to give them a pass or have recency bias in terms of calling this a good gig. Everyone is allowed to have their opinions, but it’s really odd to see the defense of this set. Even though the power issue was most likely the venue’s fault.

While volume isn’t the focus as much any longer, the physicality of these shows hasn’t changed. The experience of these sounds washing over you and engulfing you still happens every night. The "You Made Me Realise" noise section is as pummeling and disorienting as ever before. (Editor: Shields has asked people not to use the term 'holocaust' due to The Holocaust, which he seemed to feel was a bit insensitive.) So much so it would make Merzbow nervous.

Kevin once told me the rationale is at some point you start to hear things that aren’t there. Sounds that don’t exist. Every night I experienced that, and that alone is a triumph. By its very nature, your brain fills in parts of the sound.

When I saw them in 2008 and 2009, it was beyond crazy loud. At the first London Roundhouse show I saw in 2008, I made the dumb call to go without earplugs while standing in the front row. When the BBC radio correspondent interviewed me right after the show was over, I seriously couldn’t hear. It was scary.¹ Those shows, from a volume perspective, were basically a dare. Kevin said as much. 

Now that they are playing at normal volume, their mistakes won't be covered up by the volume. It's clear they need to actually practice more. There’s so much going on frequency-wise and texture-wise, it’s really easy for it to go off the rails. 

It’s caught my attention that a lot of young people—who certainly didn't see any of the shows from 2008-2013—that I've overheard after the show genuinely believe these are as loud as the previous tours. They really aren’t. Their brains would have absolutely melted if they saw MBV in 2008 or 2009.

People traveled from all over for these shows for a reason. Not for some TikTok trend, not to relive some nostalgia. But to experience a different kind of sound, a different kind of experience. Not unlike, say, La Monte Young but on a massive scale. There is no denying that there need to be improvements made from a musical standpoint (if this isn’t fixed, no amount of goodwill and positive press can protect them), but from an actual heady almost out-of-body experience brought on by loud guitars where the thought line is Johnny Ramone to an Irish man named Kevin Shields, it still is something special to witness. 

I fully believe tonight in London will be good. J is opening, as you know, so I think MBV will have a lot to prove. That said, I’m still so very lucky to see these gigs!

-Sean G.

¹Editor Andrew Perer: While I have no doubt that Sean was worried he had permanently damaged his hearing, the fact that his ears were ringing after a show and he felt his hearing was on "mute" right after a show says nothing about any real damage to your hearing. Shields has the volume measured on many occasions and always keeps it below 119 dBs, being sure to not allow any spikes.

Shields had stressed that his tinnitus came from listening to mixes very loud through headphones without letting his ears rest. Without any other obvious causes presenting themselves, this certainly makes the most sense.

Tinnitus is not the same as hearing loss, although they are related. Tinnitus can be caused by many things besides overwhelming your ears with high decibels for extended periods (7-8 hours a day at a job, without letting your ears rest.) You can get it from a virus, genes, and a host of ways, as discussed in the articles below.

The simple fact that your ears are ringing after a concert does not tell you anything about tinnitus or permanent hearing loss. Here are two excellent articles on Tinnitus, a ringing in the ears, which is not the same as hearing loss.https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tinnitus/symptoms-causes/syc-20350156 ; https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/ears-nose-and-throat/tinnitus/

The fact that there were genuine concerns during their reunion shows in 2008 and 2009 that the roof might crack and drop pieces of concrete onto people's heads tells you that it was a different time for the band; Shields had been waiting at least since 1990 to have the proper equipment to play the songs properly on the road, as intended. Creation was financially struggling in 1989-1992, until they finally sold almost half the label to Sony. While the Glider tour consisted of about ten shows, for the 1991/1992 tour they had spent about 20,000 pounds that came from EMI publishing money.

He clearly wanted to see how far he could take it those first years when he borrowed approximately $600,000 for equipment and practice space from Barry Hogan of All Tomorrow's Parties so he could figure out how to recreate the show properly. The 1989 shows were amazing due to the fact that little equipment was needed. The band didn't have all the additional equipment beginning in 1991 that interceded between them, taking away the tight dynamics playing material from 1988. Loveless required a great deal more equipment to recreate it properly, so while everything released in 1990, 1991, and 2013, just got better with each tour.

My Thoughts: For the first time in 2025—using my limited means as to how each tour sounded, on average—and the individual songs posted on YouTube for 2025, they have figured out the combination of equipment to play the dynamic material from 1988 in unison with all the spirited drive heard in 1989 AND how to bring out accurate versions of every song they play on tour from Glider, Tremolo, Loveless, and m b v. (I only saw them live in 1992 and 2008. I was a big fan in 1989 but they only went down as far as Orlando and I was in Fort Lauderdale, and couldn't get anyone to drive up there with me. I had been living in D.C. and would have been able to see them easily, but I changed schools for one semester. Just my luck.)

THAT IS MY PERCEPTION from shows in 1992, 2008, first-hand accounts by others, video and audio bootlegs. A lot of bootlegs.

Even bands like U2 and Radiohead can have issues in arenas, so the fact that MBV are having fewer and fewer, and sounding better and better is a good sign. If they could do one last world tour, assuming these shows are the beginning of it, and most shows go off smoothly, this will be one for the ages. From what I can tell, vocals are a bit higher, they have a bit more control so the songs are easier to make out. With the unprecedented the technology and Kevin Shields's know-how to make all these diverse songs sound good, this will be a tour for the ages. My previous posts predicted just such a scenario. Let's just pray it comes true, as they might be getting sick of this slog and not want to do this again. And how about hat light show?

Others' comments on the blog are just below the listing of the other posts.

Someone commented that there was a mistake on Reddit—where you cannot change the headline under any circumstances—that I left out that shows were in the UK AND Ireland. (I copied and pasted the Reddit headline here before fixing it.) The typo was my fault. It was over the Thanksgiving Holiday. So I was not checking social media much.

If you go to page 16 of my book, I make it perfectly clear that Ireland or the Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK, like Northern Ireland. It would be impossible to read that and say I don't understand the distinction.

But I'm sorry if my oversight, typo really, offended anyone. I can understand how it might, but it was a typo, and on Reddit, you cannot fix the headlines under any circumstances.

I know many people have died and suffered over many decades, so please believe me when I say I care about the distinction but didn't see it for days during the holiday here. My apologies.