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Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 | 08:16

My Bloody Valentine @ Aragon Ballroom

Saturday I rode up to the Aragon to catch MBV not quite sure what to expect. I started the night selling my extra ticket to a guy who responded to my craigslist ad. That went well--he gave me an extra $5 and I wasn't going to argue. I spent it on a t-shirt once I got inside anyway.

The Aragon has iffy sound, and gets really hot. Some have compared it to The Rave in Milwaukee, but I wouldn't say it's that bad. For one, it has more class. And the first show I saw there was Bowie, so it will always have a positive glow for me.

My Bloody Valentine brings its own sound crew, and their equipment is designed for outdoor sound. That's right, it's fucking loud. So loud that ushers were handing out earplugs as we entered the venue. They were definitely necessary.

If you haven't heard MBV you'd find the show impossibly disorienting. If you have, then you know what to expect. Everything is buried under distortion, with the vocals mixed so low they might as well not be there. The first few songs seemed to need some tweaking, but by the third or fourth song the drums had stopped distorting and you could tell when they were singing. Lyrics are unimportant for a band like this, and I couldn't quote them if you asked.

This is not to say they don't have melody. I kept wanting to compare the sound to a jet engine, but a jet doesn't have the bass registers MBV covers. I overheard someone compare the experience to standing next to a train for 90 minutes. Maybe it's close to that, but I don't think that quite captures everything going on. The earplugs were important not just to dampen sound but also to allow my ears to hear through the distortion. Worn correctly, the blocked out the disorganized noise and let the important sounds through. The booming drums, the rumbling bass, the twin guitar annihilation. Given that both Belinda Butcher and Kevin Shields had multiple amps, I can't be sure what was going on at any given moment, just that it was loud.

They played old stuff. Nothing new, nothing different. It's pretty much like on the album, but much louder than your speakers would tolerate (I hope). The sound reached a fever pitch in "I want you to realize" when the band went on a 15 minute noise freakout that pretty much was them strumming their guitars madly while the drummer kept the crash cymbals going. How his arms didn't fall off is beyond me. The floor shook and my skin vibrated--every hair on my body stood at attention. The sound cut through to the bone; there was no fighting it, and nowhere to hide.

After that song they were done. That was all they had. Nothing new, no encore, no sign of what comes next. I don't know whether the band is really back together, whether it will record again or even continue after this tour, but seeing them live is an incredible experience, one I recommend subjecting yourself to if you have the opportunity. Or, you can feed the album through your biggest amp, crank it up to 11, and scare the neighbors and their pets. Put your ear in the speaker and blow your mind.

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