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and I absolutely loved it. I thought the sound was mixed well in context of the band's style and the holocaust section on You Made Me Realise was an aural experience I'll never forget. So yeah I very much agree with this review!

It's a song I really like anyway but the effect of having the acoustic guitar up so loud was magic. A very enjoyable evening all round.

I kind of fear I have tinnitus now as my ears haven't stopped ringing since.

Forgot mine from home this morning, might pop to the shops before hand and pick some up, just incase.

Reviews of mbv were all, Wonder 2 would be such a good set closer. Kevin Shields listened, and he obeyed.

Not perfect, but a solid 8 or 9 out of 10.

I enjoyed Le Volume Courbe as well, noticed quite a few brave souls without ear plugs during You Made Me Realise, I took mine out for a moment and it was a bit like being inside a jet engine.

I did the first 5 or 6 songs without earplugs and then decided to be sensible. My friend did the whole thing without them...apparently it was only towards the end of the holocaust section that he started to get a bit worried! There was a guy sat in front of us biting his fist like he couldn't believe what was happening.

Thought the new songs slotted in well, although Wonder 2 seems to be more loop than live performance. When they stopped playing their guitars at the end I couldn't hear much difference, to be honest.

I was wearing earplugs for the first time at a gig and I wasn't sure how much they impacting on everything. I enjoyed the gig, but on the occasions I did take them out, while it was indisputably loud, there was a whole higher range of sounds that I thought I was missing with them in. Couldn't really hear any vocals, esp Kevin's, though I expected that.

I appreciated them during the noise assault bit though - people without them had hands clamped over their ears - and my ears aren't ringing today. But for most of the gig several people didn't have earplugs and didn't seem too perturbed.

Maybe volume for the sake of volume just isn't particularly exciting to me.

Which is a rare blessing with MBV all down the years. Perhaps Deb's bass was a bit low, and of course Kev's vocals. Pity the same didn't apply to Wonder2 which is a beautiful, mesmerising thing on record, but was just all of the soupy, out of phase failings from Brixton in January revisited on one single tune - and the closer at that.

As usual, the early(ish) B-sides were the tops - Cigarette In Your Bed, Thorn, Slow, while it was the cleanest version of Soon I have ever seen them do.

...with them in Manchester. Seen them there twice, the first time was astonishing but this time something seemed missing. There were problems with the sound from the start, couldn't hear Shields vocals at all which you could previously and there were loads of old men shouting "lets rock Kev" during song breaks.

1) Calling a section of a song 'the holocaust' section is pretty insensitive.

2) LOL at DiS for thinking that said section is, like, totally extreme and out there, maaaaaaaaan.

I prefer to imagine what they would sound like live rather than be disappointed by the real thing. And I don't want tinnitus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIW_WU41ieI

This is probably the best recording of YMMR that I've heard so far.

Anyone got a spare standing ticket? Thinking about going again.

but my friend has a spare you can probably have for free. PM me.

P.S last night was...absolutely fine. It really didn't stir up very much in me at all. The loud bit was pretty great and exciting, but yeah. I don't know the band THAT well, truth be told.

Re: earplugs - I, also found that wearing them took out so much of the high end, I varied it from song to song. But apart from the noisy bit it reallty wasn't too bad / loud. Also guessing from the posts in this thread that the vocals being so drowned out is a regular thing.

I'm going tonight but my 2nd ticket is still up for grabs as my friend has had to drop out this morning due to Illness. PM me. Can't wait personally as I've never seen them before.

It certainly felt quieter than the last time I saw them, for the majority of the set at least. I suspect part of that is because the amps were setup to face offstage, so the onstage volume was lower than it was last time round.

As for the set itself, I thought they had changed it up enough from five years ago. I was a little worried it'd be like seeing the same thing again but I was chuffed with the variation on how they played the set, as much as what they played in it.

A really good gig overall, but not as good as they've been in the past.

really enjoyed myself. thought You Never Should, Cigarette In Your Bed and To Here Knows When were all impeccable, and the new tunes were great, especially New You.

The Holocaust was unlike anything I've ever heard in my life. you can't really compare their set and the holocaust to each other - the songs sort of acted as a precursor to the noise. whatever the case, it's been a long time coming for me to see them (and now I get to see them again at Primavera!) and I loved every minute.

But it seems like they've addressed most complaints about their live show, and come out sounding really good. "Soon" particularly sounded so brilliantly polished. It was only the vocals that let them down.

Someone on here last week made an analogy about Wonder 2 being like Debbie's saggy tits after You Made Me Realise being wonderful sex with Belinda, and I couldn't help but think of that last night and laugh.

Face value - I can meet at any time, so if anyone's interested give me a buzz.

1. Despite a lot of people offering out spare tickets for their gigs, MBV still seem to be an excellent live band;
2. Earplugs are boring. Earplug chat massively so;
3. Calling a part of a song 'the holocaust section' is, all things considered, fairly dumb; and
4. CG really needs to freshen up his act

the 3 new tracks in particular sounded great. Was really hoping they were going to do 'Only Tomorrow' and they did. I also thought Wonder 2 worked quite well after the onslaught of 'You made me realise', contrary to previous reports.

They didn't come on til 9.20 - was it the same on the first Brixton night?

I can't recall much in the set from 'Isn't Anything' but that might just be my memory. The vocals were, of course, almost entirely inaudible, and I thought it was a bit rich of Shields to say that the crowd was 'as quiet as a Japanese crowd' given how shy he is with the microphone. Then again, he does have a really loud guitar to make up for it.

Not as loud as previous times I've seen them, but that's no bad thing, but you'd still be mad to go without earplugs during 'You made me realise'.

"MBV were no louder, for most of their set, than any number of bands you might come across at an All Tomorrow's Parties line-up. Of more concern, they were not much better, either" 3*