Mantra For A State Of Mind

To be honest, I’m a bit embarrassed by that first post of mine. I’ve been meaning to write a blog for years, and every time I sit down in earnest to get cracking with it, I fall down at the first hurdle – what to put in the first post. Anyway, it’s done now, so it can stay there, otherwise it’s back to square one. I’ve come up with a better idea – I’m going to hammer this blog with loads of posts early on, in an effort to dilute the first post’s effect. This might be tied in with the excitement I’ve got with having a new found creative outlet, which will probably cease once the novelty has worn off. Either way, one shall maketh hay whilst the sun shineth.

My friend posted a link on Facebook the other day to some My Bloody Valentine tickets that were on sale. For the uninitiated, MBV (as I will refer to them as from now on, to save wear-and-tear on my keyboard) reunited last year to play their first gigs since the days of rationing. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really cool enough to be into them first time around – they were a bit too “advanced level shoegazing” for one as new to alternative music as myself, although I was quite taken with Swallow when I saw it on The Chart Show. It took me years to get into them, by which time MBV had long called it quits.

You can imagine my excitement when I found out at the beginning of 2008 that MBV were back with some gigs in that summer, although this was tempered by (a) the tickets being a bit pricey, and (b) me not having a job at the time. However, the wonders of an unnamed internet auction site meant we were eventually able to pick up some tickets nearer the time. I’m really glad we did, as it was the best gig I’ve been to for some considerable time (and I go to a lot of gigs, so that’s high praise indeed). I stood rooted to the spot from the opening of I Only Said to the end of the fabled “Holocaust” (Google MBV + holocaust for an explanation) – no earplugs, no flinching, no distractions.

My Bloody Valentine: Really are quite good

The Facebook link tuned out to be for the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona this summer - MBV are playing, as are Spiritualized. If my ears could salivate, I would be walking around with very wet shoulders. Although I’ve seen Spiritualized quite a few times, I’ve never massively been into their recorded output. Their live shows, however, are always something to behold – I remember being literally blown away the first time I caught them at the Buckley Tivoli in the early 1990s. I also remember having to “go and get some fresh air” after about 10 minutes of their gig in Leeds University in 1997 - an afternoon spent doing some “home baking” at my friend’s student house on Burley Road turned out to not be such a good idea after all, but that’s another story.

MBV did to me exactly what I thought Spiritualized were the only band capable of doing, and that is making me feel like I’m completely out of my tree simply by the power of their live show. They both seem to offer an aural assault which, when combined with a hypnotic visual package, leaves me trying to scrape my brains off the ceiling of the venue. That’s why the home baking was such a bad idea - my brains were already up there, and Jason Pierce went and blew them through the ceiling into the night sky, meaning I could hardly stay vertical.

Jason Spaceman: Knocked my head out into the Leeds night sky

It was nice to have that feeling again last summer, as I’ve “wound my neck in” a little over the past few years. I no longer have the unquenchable thirst for narcotics that I displayed as a younger man, which is no bad thing really. Getting older I’d noticed the come downs got longer as the embarrassment factor got higher, so I knocked it all on the head. I still like getting pissed, but that’s about it really. I’m not saying that’s it forever, but it is for now. So being taken to a higher plane by some kick arse live music was a welcome surprise.

This Primavera Sound thing is sounding very tempting indeed. I’m hoping to God there are some tickets left by the time I get paid, which is in eleven days, not that I’m counting or anything. Then all I have to do is convince some other people it’s a viable alternative to a British festival. After last year’s round of mudbaths, I’m figuring that won’t be too difficult. Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be floating in Spain!