My Bloody Valentine live at the Glasgow Barrowlands.

The past couple of years have been heaven for lovers of noise rock. All the big names of my teenage years have got back together to play a few gigs and put the kids through private school. My Bloody Valentine have done very little as a group for the past 15 years or so. Their masterwork Loveless came out in 1991 and apart from a handful of tracks we have heard nothing else.

At the first of two nights at the Barrowlands they were supported by another, albiet smaller, indie legend. The Pastels. Steven Pastel, the singer and band leader runs monorail records in kings court, Glasgow. It's the best record shop in Glasgow and you should all go there. It's aslo a concert venue, vegetarian cafe and bar. See http://www.monorailmusic.com/ for a bit more about the shop. The Pastels were ok tonight, but not outstanding. They sound a little like the soundtrack to a French art film. The line-up was filled out by Gerry Love from Teenage Fanclub on Guitar but they were never going to compete with the noise monster that is My Bloody Valentine.

The crowd was a mixed bag. The average punter was probably in their mid-30s. There were plenty of old goths and indie kids. Everybody was too-cool-for-school as you would expect at a gig like this.

From the first note MBV were loud. I made use of my free earplugs. The sound was pretty close to that of the vinyl. The set drew from Isn't Anything, Loveless and the Creation eps. My favourite track was probably soon although you made me realise was amazing. They played the one-note bridge for 21 minutes. It may be the loudest thing that I've ever heard. It was a visceral sensation like standing in a waterfall or being blown about by the wind. The sound felt like how you would imagine being on fire in the sun would be. In a good way. I'm sorry, I'm not toogood with words.

The set finished with You Made Me Realise. Most people were smiling during the 'chord of death' and I loved it although my ears were ringing a bit as I walked home. I'd love to see them again, I'll be buying the upcoming remastered editions of the back catalogue and I hope they do some good music. I like to imagine that I can understand Kevin Shields predicament a bit. How would you follow Loveless? How do you improve on perfection?

http://www.mybloodyvalentine.co.uk/