My Bloody Valentine

Monday 27 and Wednesday 29 May 2013: these were the dates circled in red on the calendar of every dream-pop and shoegaze fan on our peninsula. My Bloody Valentine landed in Italy for the first time, fresh off a headline slot at Primavera Sound in Barcelona and buoyed by the acclaimed new album “MBV”. Hype aside, this was a test the fans had been demanding for a lifetime (remember, the new record came out a full 21 years after its predecessor “Loveless”), and one that in any case stirred no small amount of curiosity.

What will Kevin Shields' idea of a concert be in 2013?

Is the wall of sound generated by the Irish outfit really so powerful that it makes those infamous earplugs a necessity?

Will we see them dragging themselves pathetically across the stage like fading legends coasting toward retirement, or will they prove to be the reborn horsemen of the sonic apocalypse?

Some of our questions will find an answer over the course of the two nights.

We approach Bologna's Estragon, trading a few words with the people waiting in line, feeding or debunking some of the legends that have always swirled around Shields and co.'s live shows; there aren't many people around yet, since the start time printed on the tickets says 10.30pm, while My Bloody Valentine walk on stage at 10pm sharp, catching a few latecomers off guard.

Contrary to what one might have hoped at the venue's entrance, no ear protection is handed out (in Rome, by contrast, it will be regularly distributed at the Orion's entrance) – though it would have proved useless anyway, except perhaps toward the end of the show.

The setlist is well balanced and manages to satisfyingly represent every phase of the band's artistic journey, with a few gems dug up from an EP predating “Isn't Anything” (almost all of “You Made Me Realise” is revisited) and from the b-sides of “Loveless” (“Honey Power”), the album that, being the landmark it is, ends up the most heavily plundered record of the night.

It opens with the lethal one-two of “I Only Said”/“When You Sleep”, capable of warming up both souls and atmosphere and immediately setting the record straight: Kevin Shields' guitar is in charge, to the detriment of everything else. This means we don't get absolute perfection, but rather a show that constantly walks a tightrope, swinging between moments of psychedelic ecstasy and the odd stumble (“Come In Alone”).

The section that suffers most is the middle of the setlist, where at times you lose yourself in the sonic tangle woven by the quartet; the exception is “Cigarette In Your Bed”, which has the merit of never letting us lose touch with the band on stage.

The change of gear is dictated by Colm Ó Cíosóig and Debbie Googe, who start hammering hard on “Nothing Much To Lose”, marking a watershed between the two halves of the show, with the second stretch fairly describable, without exaggeration, as "mystical": the crowd is enveloped by a swelling roar that draws the fans toward the stage, closer and closer, oblivious to the steadily rising volume, almost as if wanting to gather around the figure of Shields, the prophet of the occasion.

In Rome too, after an uneven opening stretch marked by technical problems (Shields and Butcher visibly complain about the on-stage acoustics) and at least three false starts, things take off midway through the set, with the performance of “Thorn” followed by “Nothing Much To Lose”.

Unfortunately, irritated by what were evidently unresolvable technical glitches, Shields decides to cut a couple of songs from the planned setlist (which otherwise would have matched Bologna's and nearly every other date of the tour so far).

The casualties are “Who Sees You” and “Wonder 2”, the latter performed in Bologna as the closing number, amid general jubilation.

"Soon" represents a kind of apotheosis before the eagerly awaited final part of the set, once again underlining the seminal importance of these musicians' work: true pioneers in their own genre, subject to countless attempts at imitation that have never fully succeeded.

At both Italian dates, there was no shortage of complaints from a small portion of the crowd: some grumbled about the absence of "Sometimes", others pressed the sound engineer for more volume on the vocals, almost irritated at having to sit through what felt like an instrumental version of their idols' repertoire.

And indeed the vocal parts stayed deliberately buried under layers of sound, with the voice mics kept so low that Kevin and Bilinda's words were barely audible even between songs.

But expecting crystal-clear vocals, distinct harmonies, easily recognisable riffs and crisp definition at a My Bloody Valentine show is decidedly naive. So no matter if Butcher's vocals turn out to be barely perceptible and Shields' practically nonexistent: this isn't really a concert in the conventional sense, but a genuine celebration, the sublimation of an idea that reaches its apotheosis in the notorious "Holocaust Session", placed as usual within "You Made Me Realise". Fifteen minutes of pure psychedelic noise in Bologna, just nine in Rome (even in the key track the band decided to cut things short and leave the stage earlier than expected), enough to grant everyone present the gift of ubiquity: heaven and hell have never felt so close as in that moment.

The "Holocaust" section proves to be an otherworldly, extrasensory experience, capable of transporting the audience into a parallel dimension through a masterful interplay of sounds, noise and images projected onto the screen. A sensation that probably no one present had ever felt before at a live event, not even the most seasoned veterans.

In Bologna, "Wonder 2" follows, the boldest track on "MBV", and afterwards Shields comes out to sign a few autographs and chat with the most tireless stragglers; in Rome, on the other hand, everyone heads straight home with no meet-and-greet with the dream-pop champions, partly due to the heavy rain that starts pouring down.

Overall, given the extremely high expectations, one might have hoped for a little more, especially at the Rome date, but all things considered it's hard to complain: just a few years ago not even the most daring fan would have dared hope to see My Bloody Valentine back on a stage together again.

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