My My Bloody Valentine Valentine

I have never, ever, EVER seen a show like tonight. EVER. I might have tinnitus in my right ear, seriously. The 90s rock band My Bloody Valentine played Le Zénith and I got there early, foolishly turning down plastic earplugs offered by the guy who tore my ticket in half. After being kinda let down by Beck two nights ago at l’Olympia (a post for another day), this was par contre one of the greatest concerts I’ve seen in my life.

I just got up on My Bloody Valentine’s classic Loveless album a few weeks ago, so tonight went exactly like: playing Loveless on my iPod on the way to the show (still probably the third time I’d ever heard the record) and then seeing it played live before my eyes an hour later at ear-bleeding volume. I wrote a book two years ago for Continuum Books’ 33 1/3 series about Sly Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On, and but so one of their highest-selling books is about Loveless, by Mike McGonigal. And I’ve got a list of Spin magazine’s greatest 90 albums of the 90s around the house somewhere that placed Loveless in their top 20, so I knew it was something to get around to eventually. But nothing could’ve prepared me.

They just ripped the roof off Le Zénith, I can’t even explain. I could only laugh to myself in-between songs, about how LOUD the group was and how inconsequential their vocals were. Even listening to Loveless, no one’s ever had any idea what they’re saying; it may as well be instrumental rock music. I never got to see Nirvana, and I’ve never seen Nine Inch Nails, but I’ve caught the Breeders and Marilyn Manson before, and I swear, if I ever hear a louder band than My Bloody Valentine, it’ll be the last thing I’ll ever be able to hear. But such a beautiful noise, that’s what makes all the difference.

Guitarists Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher, bassist Debbie Googe and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig practically never spoke to the crowd all night, ripping through deafening songs like “To Here Knows When,” “Blown a Wish,” “Loomer,” “When You Sleep” and others. Sure, there was singing. Who knows what was sung? Their final song of the night was, swear to God, just ocean waves of earsplitting feedback from a song called “You Made Me Realise.” The encore was the same. Incredible. Loveless, by the way, came out in 1991 and My Bloody Valentine never managed to put another album out. Till this year, they hadn’t performed live publicly in 13 years. After getting Loveless from the library last month, I noticed their MySpace page said they were coming to Paris, so I immediately copped a ticket. Very glad I did.