My Bloody Valentine, Aviva Studios. 24th November 2025

I held my breath getting in tonight. My ticket came via a fan exchange after I missed out on the original sale… and well, you just never know if it’s going to work do you. I’m really not keen on resale tickets, but I’ve never seen My Bloody Valentine live and I’d be damned if I was going to miss this chance. Ticket accepted and safely inside Aviva Studios for the first time in a while, it seems the venues best feature, loading everyone in from the side has been ditched. Instead were herded through the back, where I proceed to wriggle my way forward, until I hit an impenetrable wall of blokes backs. You don’t feel trapped in here though, that might be because the ceiling seems a mile away, making the space feel vast, even if the floor really isn’t. It’s quite comfortable, even with a sold out crowd. As the lights drop, the crowd cheer and the stage is bathed in Loveless hot pink and realise I can see every little from my vantage point. This might not matter though as a tidal wave of guitar on ‘I Only Said’ hits you and I’m reminded just how good the sound is in here… for now. People craning their necks dies down as we settle for the low key anthemic ‘When You Sleep’ and the back projection sweeps through distorted neon cityscapes. ‘New You’ opens things up with hopeful synth lines that build over the incessant guitar chug. It’s quite a ride and sounds every bit a great as I’d hoped. Before ‘You Never Should’ brings the noise and some decent trousers waft, even half way down the room, which is pretty impressive. Some of the more delicate parts of these songs do struggle in the mix, especially well illustrated on ‘Cigarettes In Your Bed’s quiet/loud dynamic. The squall of guitars from ‘Only Tomorrow’ fairs much better and we lift off into shoegaze psychedelia, as I decide that this might be point to get my earplugs out of my pocket. The crowd is calm really, even for stuff like ‘Come In Alone’. Truthfully MBV don’t exactly deal in bangers and mass singalongs do they, so we’re in polite respectful territory with tonight’s audience. That said ‘Only Shallow’ is fucking epic and triggers some head banging around me and even a touch of air drumming. Nearly an hour in, the appearance of ‘Off Your Face’s acoustic guitar seems to spark a surge to the doors as people decide this is the song for a wee break. I’m distracted during ‘Thorn’ by the fella in front of me, trying and failing to take a good photo. Unless you’re over 6ft or stood a few metres from the stage, you’re a bit goosed in here. There’s little interaction, but some shouts from the front before ‘Nothing Much to Lose’ does see a spot of communication from the stage. I can’t tell what they’re saying though and neither can Shields. ‘Who Sees You’ makes me a bit sleepy, the rythem slowly rolls and the colours cycle on the projection. This might be controversial, but they’re not the most engaging live band and the sound seems to be getting worse the deeper into the set we dig. The earplugs come out for ‘To Here Knows When’, as I try to reconnect, but I find myself distracted once again, this time by the swirly lights as they oscillate along the side walls. They are very loud, which might be why the mix is struggling, but they sound much better unfiltered. The venomous punch of ‘Slow’ drags me back into the room, but something’s not right. ‘Soon’ doesn’t seem to have any trouble though, it’s all low end and explodes gloriously. Its darkly dystopian baggy vibe is thrilling stuff and is probably the high point for me, until something cuts out. There’s a short scramble, before Shields asks “Do you wanna do it again?” Cue a loud cheer and bang we’re back in. They get through it, but the tech gremlins aren’t letting up. Usually this happens at the start of a set, not the end. It’s a shame, but it sucks the life out of the room. ‘Wonder 2’ makes a lovely racket, but the 10 minute forced intermission has killed it. It’s come at the worst possible time, giving them little room to recover. A set like this is all about momentum and it’s gone. ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’ is great though. Fast. Angry. Visceral. Twinned with ‘You Made Me Realise’ they make a deadly pair to close. I enjoyed the set, but truthfully not as much as I’d hoped. Expectation is a dangerous thing and in the case, I think I’d oversold it to myself. As they bleed things out in a wall of feedback that sounds like an entire fleet of rockets taking off, I’m left with the feeling that this was an experience. Certainly not the best gig ever and not helped by the sound that seemed to deteriorate, but still worth the resale ticket gamble and 2 hours, even with the tech issues, you can’t really ask for more.