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Widely acknowledged as one of the loudest bands of all time, their opening notes of I Only Said were enough to send fans reaching for their ear plugs, which were handed out on the door, just in time to get a clearer feel for When You Sleep from 1991’s landmark album Loveless.
The rock group’s frontman Kevin Shields, a man of few words, said before the start: “Thanks for coming to this.”
The noise ramped up for a closing salvo of Feed Me With Your Kiss and You Made Me Realise, the latter of which sees the band descend into a wall of noise which increases in volume with every passing second, causing the floor in the historic venue to vibrate.
The band departed the stage to a standing ovation from the crowd, who at points shouted “turn it up”, presumably ironically, as they will be hearing this gig, which is surely one of the loudest the venue has seen, ringing in their ears for days to come.
The gig was the latest in a run of shows which saw the band, made up of frontman and woman Shields and Bilinda Butcher, bass player Debbie Googe and drummer Colm O Ciosoig, take to the stage for the first time in seven years, which began in Dublin last year.
The band are often credited with inventing the shoegaze genre, a heavy form of psychedelic alternative rock which uses guitar feedback and effects pedals to create loud yet ethereal soundscapes.
They released their debut album Isn’t Anything in 1988, and went on to release Loveless, before a gap of more than 20 years until their next studio album MBV (2013), and are best known for the songs Only Shallow, Soon and To Here Knows When.
The gig came after performances from Mogwai on Wednesday and Manic Street Preachers on Thursday as part of the yearly Teenage Cancer Trust charity gig series which was originally curated by The Who frontman Sir Roger Daltrey.
This year’s run has seen The Cure frontman Robert Smith take over curation duties, with 1990s alternative rock band Garbage due to play on Saturday, and Brit Award-winning indie band Wolf Alice due to perform on Sunday.
