Lets set this straight. My Bloody Valentine were treated the way they were because of the lack of respect they gave to APW Festival goers. No one could hear them sing. We didn’t hear one lyric from them, I dont know if something was wrong with the mic’s or if they intended on playing for an hour and singing to an audience who could hear one thing they said. It was a slap in the face to all who payed for a ticket and heard that garbage. Being impatient Tool fans had nothing to do with. Were you actually there listening to the same crap we were.

In addition to the volume, another trademark of a My Bloody Valentine performance is not being able to hear the lyrics. I doubt it bothered any of their fans, who were most likely thrilled (as I was) to be seeing a band known for rarely going on tour. There was an hour-long break between when they ended and when Tool took the state (longer since Tool was 15 minutes late)–if you didn’t enjoy the set there was no need to stay, much less push your way to the front expressly to insult the guys on stage, as some Tool fans did. What you call garbage a lot of audience members call something else–why not respect that instead of fighting it?

Im curious if the guy who wrote this article has a single clue about what good music is? Ive seen probably 500 concerts in my life, and thousands of bands, and My Bloody Valentine was the absolute worst piece of trash ive ever heard or witnessed!!! Shocking and Transfixing??? WTF are you talking about. It was obnoxiously loud, there wasnt one musical lyric to be pulled from the whole show, everything sounded the same, they have zero energy, and the ten minute long, same chord loud BS to end it was seriously the most annoying ten minutes of my life! Thank God TOOL did what they always do, which is put on a fantastic display of musical talent and genius, complete with perfect sound and the best visuals in the buisness. My Bloody Valentine was absolute garbage, and should offer refunds to everyone who had the misfortune to wast over an hour of there lives listening to it!!

You listen to sonic architects and want words?? Buy a book! My Bloody Valentine deliberate experiment with sound, push boundaries, and in that cacophony of guitars is a whole new world of melody and rhythm that I personally find extremely moving and transcendent. Sure, the vocals were too low and that made it more challenging. But the idea that bands can’t be experimental because they have to give festival goers what they want? Please. Every even vaguely ‘alternative’ band you love has been shaped by visionaries of the past, many of whom were booed and jeered in their time. Don’t like it? Cool! Go buy a beer, check out the other stages, find something you DO like. But allow artists the freedom to follow their path.

Disrespectful? Seriously?

This is the way My Bloody Valentine have ALWAYS performed live shows. You may not like their music, or how they perform live, but why should they change what they’ve done for 20 years just to make you happy?

We agree with Vinny. MBV was nothing but noise. The whole set was loud and ear piercing. We were sitting by the sound booth and the levels just seemed off. Trademark or not there performance was crap. TOOL ROCKED!!! Let’s all focus on the highlight of the night TOOL.

Like Steve said, that is the way MBV ALWAYS performs.

Genius like Kevin Shields’ is rarely recognized nor appreciated. MBV are one of the most significant bands in the last 20 years, and people treated them like they were Ashlee Simpson.

But then again, what else does one expect from people who live in New Jersey and listen to Tool?

Plain and simple MBV sucks!!! And they showed it! I’m a music lover of all types. I went to APW to see diffrent styles and I will never ever ever listen to that band. Their a poor excuse for musicians.

I thought that mbv would be bad, I would have just stayed and listened anyway but they were terrible! I saw people crying, a few people put cigs in their ears! I’m all in for different kinds of music, but that part when they blasted straight up noise at top volume for 11 minutes straight was truely painful.

MBV was the worst of the worst..I am an old guy who has seen loud (Remember The Who, Black Sabbath??)and seen creative…but as a huge Tool fan, I almost left because I could not stand that trash…and for the folks that couldn’t hear any singing, we may actually have been better off!!

Tool was just freakin awesome. My Bloody Valentine, on the other hand, had to be THE WORST garbage I have ever heard in my 30 years of listening to music! Besides for the quiet lyrics, which they do deliberately, the noise of what they call music was horrendous!!! Earplugs, fingers, tissue, nothing could block out that rediculous blasting sound of jet engines that lasted over 10 minutes! I wanted to throw rocks at them, but all we had was mud!

I don’t know where you got the negative spin on the day. It was really a great time, the only indifference I saw was when MBV played, and you have to admit there music isn’t for everybody. I think you have to be familiar with their album to really appreciate their live show. I know the vox are suppose to be low and blend with the music (as was noted by a quote from Kevin Sheilds on the screen between sets) but you could of just turned off the mics and it would of made no difference. The only song I know of theirs (Only Shallow) the vox can be heard on the album and they sound like another instrument, but live it was overwhelmed by the music and outdoor acoustics. I’m a huge fan of Mogwai and know they are heavily influenced by MBV but their music has dynamics which makes for an impact. For those of us not familiar with MBV it came across rather monotonous. I actually enjoyed the 10 minute noise blast (another thing Mogwai has adopted) and thought the bassist and drummer were really powerful, but it just didn’t translate well to the festival audience not familiar with the music. I think it’s rude to show such contempt for an artist performing but that’s the way it goes for artists that are not conventional. But for all of you judging anyone who is a Tool fan and from NJ as closed minded and simple, it’s just as easy to label every MBV fan as pretentious music snobs.

I was very close to the stage for MBV, that’s the second time I have seen them play live, and the second time I wasn’t disappointed. I miss the days when you could go to a concert to hear loud rock music and not songs that your Sirius Radio plays in the car that daddy bought you. Tool was great don’t get me wrong, but when is the last time they played a song from Opiate. Every band on that stage Saturday earned the right to be there and play “their” songs. If you hated them that much shut-up and listen to your new Ipod or go ask Neko Case to play another lame set!

Ultimately the problem wasn’t MBV, who happen to have a huge fan base and those who have listened to them before the concert may have been slightly more prepared for their live show, but the lack of cohesion when it came to Tool being the “headliner” of the day. I was at that stage most of the day, and Tool fans had pushed there way to the front and slept through or mocked a lot of the bands blocking the view for fans that specifically came out to see bands like Gogol Bordello, the Arctic Monkeys, or yes My Bloody Valentine. I’ve listened to Tool, and while not my favorite I can appreciate their music, however the type of music wasn’t cohesive with a lot of the bands on the line-up therefore seemingly leaving a lot of Tool fans with little to do but stand there. PS: Gogol Bordello was amazing. Absolutely amazing. As usual.

For MBV, i thought that they could have used a better sound technician, while the 10 minute sound blast was annoying, in retrospect it was still kinda neat. I listened to album music today and however different it is, it was extremely artful. I just wish i could have heard them sing. I went because 3 of my favorite bands were playing that day. Cage the Elephant – who deserved more crowd participation. Gogol Bordello – which was the most fun i’ve had in a long time, if ever. and Tool – which was mind-blowing

I thoroughly enjoyed the 10 minutes of reverberations Kevin and Belinda sent out at the end. It made my ears twitch.Their 2 studio albums sound different, than a live performance. Shoegaze is a different experience in a live setting. Different strokes for different Fokes. Its like apples and oranges.

I’m an electronic music head and I love a lot of noise and minimal lyrics in my music but MBV just didn’t move me.. not my style of noise I guess. Anyway thats no reason to be disrespectful. Tool and Gogol were the only two acts that I really liked. Gogol made me dance the hardest.

I will admit one thing about mbv that im sure everyone here can agree with. The drummer and bassist were the best part of their set. they at least seemed like they were enjoying themselves.N yeah i went to see tool but i wound up leaving with love for gogol bordello. but really mbv was just unlistenable and that idiot behind me who kept askin for shrooms shoulda had his ass kicked

You know what’s great? My Bloody Valentine.
Why? Their music is not affected by impatient Tool fans. Nor is it affected by festivals or mud or ticket prices or whatever. If you truly consider yourself a music fan, get a copy of Loveless, some headphones…after you’ve listened to it 100 times and heard something new every single time, go see them again and be thankful that you had an opportunity to experience art. There are countless other shows you can go to and “get your rock on”. Seriously.

MBV will be forever respected

Tool will be forgotten

Period

MBV were brilliant. When those Tool fans started giving them the finger, we started bottling them. Unfortunately they were only plastic bottles. If we’d have had bricks, that would have been better…

Honestly Tool had no place being on that stage. If APW wasn’t afraid of not selling tickets for day two because it wasn’t a radio-frenzy like the other two days then Tool wouldn’t have even been able to fit on the bill next to My Bloody Valentine. Also, I love some of the “We couldn’t even hear the words” comments.

Whatever. At least the impatient Tool fans’ eardrums were slaughtered by the loudness MBV. Enjoy them now, fuckers!

I love MBV’s loveless, I think it’s genius and I actually quite enjoyed their performance and thought the 10 minutes of noise was the highlight of the day. But their vox were mixed too low, if you deny that you have no ears… I’m not asking for cleary sung vocals and understandable lyrics, but it was as if an instrument was missing.

MBV was a bit much and I’m not entirely sure how anyone can enjoy music like that. Tool was brilliant and surprise surprise I could actually hear Maynard’s voice. Anyone with half-a-brain and no respect for an audience could play music like MBV. Tool put MBV in their place and saved APW from being ruined by MBV’s end of the world, airplane take off “music.” TOOL ROCK

Never heard them before and don’t quite know what it was I did hear. Sounded like we were standing behind a jet for the last 10 minutes. If that is there schtick, well, I am not a fan. But I guess there are folks out there who do like that so to them I say, keep it. My Bloody Valentine? More like My Bloody Eardrums.

Am I the only one that loved My Bloody Valentine AND Tool? I don’t understand the animosity. MBV didn’t delay Tool and if you didn’t like the sound you could have gone to another stage or gotten a beer or something. I thought the noise made by MBV was magnificent. One of the coolest moments of the weekend. I could have listened for an hour. Tool were fantastic, as well. The sound was great and the band was tight.

Loomer. I love MBV and live in New Jersey. I work in Manhattan with a 15 minute train commute and pay a lot less rent my friend. Lets stop fighting. Tool is a good band that puts on a great show and My Bloody Valentine is a legendary band that many people will never get. That’s okay. I just wish people had more respect for others trying to hear the bands they wanted to hear as I did for them. Oh well, there are jerks everywhere (in new york and new Jersey)

I say of the bat I went to APW for Tool. My buds and I arrived at 3.30pm and unfortunately it wasn’t hot enough along the day for things to dry up. We went straight to the Blue Comet stage as the Cool Kids closed their set. We got up close 6 hours before Tool started their set so we wouldn’t have to weave through the heave of people and upsetting anyone. Needless to say by the end of it all we were tired. But during the 6 hours we waited, we were entertained, with the only let down being My Bloody Valentine. Arctic Monkeys were decent and had a good vibe going. Bonus was seeing Courtney Love on the side putting makeup on continuously. Gogol Bordello was a brilliant good time. They livened up the crowded and had a great stage presence. Excitement grew as My Bloody Valentine came on stage knowing Tool was around the corner. Not familiar with their music but I was at least anticipating something good. Their decibel levels were by far the loudest of the day. Vocally, you couldn’t hear a lyric, and really you couldn’t hear a voice at all. I understand it’s their way of playing but having had to endure 55 minutes of their set was a bit too much to take. Maybe everyone was growing restless. Maybe those of us who were in the front got blasted deaf what someone 500 meters away would appreciate better. Maybe it was standing for 6 hours straight having nothing to drink or eat during that time. 2 days in and my hearing is still messed up no thanks to MBV. I’d check them out again but this time at least I know the best place to appreciate their work is way in the back. But the wait was definitely worth it to see Tool. Considering after their present tour dates, they are on hiatus it was a chance to see one of the great bands of the present day live. You can hear the vocals, guitar and bass were perfect and the drums were simply amazing, highlight of the night.

Tool may be great but they’ll have to wait 20 years to influence a whole generation to form a band. Respect MBV or go home and listen to Korn.

Isn’t Tool metal with brains? It seems they got everything and left the fans without nothing.

By the way I think it is an interesting point that the holocaust section of My Bloody Valentine’s performance is able to simultaneously bring immense pleasure to their fans and immense displeasure to the people who dislike them

This festival was ridiculously poor in its organization. The fact they had bathrooms is amazing. The only saving grace all the bands were amazing.

This festival was ridiculously poor in its organization. The fact they had bathrooms is amazing. The only saving grace all the bands were amazing.

This festival was ridiculously poor in its organization. The fact they had bathrooms is amazing. The only saving grace all the bands were amazing.

it almost sorta reminds me of a certain bob dylan being booed off the stage all those years ago at newport. ya know what I mean? people (even his biggest fans) weren’t ready to be blasted out of their skin like that.

my bloody valentine blew me away… quite literally and my ears will never be the same. it was the highlight of my night. during the entire set the only thing I kept thinking was: “This would be the perfect time to die. This would be the perfect time to die. This would be the perfect time to die.”

after reading all these comments i have to say that my impressions of Tool fans at the show have been confirmed. even before MBV launched into their now famous 10 minute sonic wall of glorious noise, Tool-heads were shouting out insults and behaving like a bunch of moronic frat boys. I counted no less than 3 people who yelled out ” you fu%%ing suck!” in between the songs. So you can imagine my pleasure when MBV rewarded those intellectuals with the loudest barrage of white noise heard on the continental united states. And when the middle fingers went up I was in heaven.

honestly, I had listened to album Loveless and i thought it was very good and creative use of guitar effects. But, Seriously, their set at APW was the worst musical act ive ever seen anywhere. it was actually painful (literally) to listen too. anyone who says they actually liked that set is either lying, partially deaf or totally insane. I understand people have differnt opinions on music, but Being SOOO loud that everything was just a shitstorm of buzzing, thudding ear rape, it simply defies logic that a normal human could have enjoyed it. Maybe they kept it so loud so they could cover any mistakes? I don’t know They totally deserved getting booed of stage because it really was a disaster. Tool, However, put on an excellent show at a resonable volume and every instrument was well articulated, which is not suprising, because they are a far more talented group.

(BTW: MBV fans are real assholes. they were fighting with each other throughout MBV entire set in my section)

All those years ago when my dad told me that the bands I loved (The Smiths, Pixies, Throwing Muses) were an excruciating noise that wasn’t real music, I knew I was onto something as special as it was exciting. Who ever would have imagined that so many years later it would be fans of a progressive metal band that would make me feel exactly the same way with their brattish actions at a live show and truly pitiful ‘Oh-my-poor-earbuds’ and ‘give-me-a-refund’ postings? That 20-years after they first started leaving audiences this split between utter horror and totally spellbound wonder has to be a testament to My Bloody Valentine’s genius. Blaze on!

Ok. If you like feedback, bloody ears, drowned out vocals then seein MBV is your thing. Its funny I read a comment that MBV will be remembered forever and Tool will be forgotten. Twit.

Tool “fans” who boo’d and jeered at MBV are the same types of cowards who would have walked out of a Bill Hicks set because they came “to laugh and be entertained” and not to be challenged by an artist. You are the epitome of all that Maynard rails against in his lyrics. You have no concept of music as art. You call things that challenge you “gay” or “stupid”, because you lack mental capacity to recognize anything beyond your limited view. Don’t worry, if Tool ever decides to make music that challenges you; you can claim “how they used to be cool, but now they suck!” and you can go back to wearing your Limp Biskit T-shirts.

listen, all you MBV fans need to realize that tool fans are just as open minded as you are. People are free to respond however they like to a musical act. just because we dont care for a band’s LIVE performance doesn’t mean that dont like there music in general or that were “closed minded”. MBV need to understand that normal people like to be entertained and comfortable when seeing a show and that Phyically painful can only be phyically painful. I mean, if i killed your whole family, took a sledgehammer to your face and I said it was an amazing peice of art, wouldn’t you be inclined to disagree? and wouldn’t you be pissed off if someone called you a “closed minded fool” for it?

“MBV will be forever respected

Tool will be forgotten

Period”

-is the person that wrote this Insane.
Tool has a Fan Base 20 times larger than this shitty band MBV
The members of tool are more musically talented that MBV (obviously)
Tool has Platnium selling albums.
MBV does not.
MBV’s album “loveless” was a commerical failure and bankrupt the label that produced it.
Tool never did that.

SO thats that
MBV fans should wake up and get with the program

THE SHOEGAZE ERA IS OVER.

and the only people that care about it are emo losers who are stuck in the 80’s

period.

Smokey is a fucking idiot. Since when does record sales and commercial success equal good music? Those things have more to do with hype and trends rather than good music (than are a FEW exceptions). The vast majority of bands and musicians that sell millions do so usually because of trends and hype, but then disappear in a few years. Nu metal bands of the 90s and Hair Metal bands of the 80s sold millions in their heyday but are now considered a joke. To this day the debut album by the Velvet Underground has only sold 300,000 but is probobly in the top 5 most influencial records of all time and is still as relevant today as it was 40 years ago. My Bloody Valentine will still be important in 50 years time, will My Chemical Romance or Good Charlotte (who probobly sell millions of records)? I think not.

At last I saw them. They played To Here Knows When, my favorite song. Pure ecstasy. Judging by these nasty comments here there was an added bonus: offending suburban jersey hillbillies, not only did they get to cry but they went deaf. (The holocaust part)

When music offends the oppressors (jersey mall, frat, shore, metal scene) you have done your job. Come back to NYC, MBV , before you go away for another 20 years.

@Vinny0102

It’d be far more disrespectful to me if they had changed the live set they’ve been doing for 20 years to appease Tool fans. I came in expecting to be blasted away by the loudest band in the world, and I got exactly what I wanted. Perhaps you should research the bands you’re seeing a bit more next time, nobody was forcing you to see MBV and be so rude (I certainly didn’t stick around for Tool)

If you call “The Holocaust” part of MBV’s set last Saturday music, then please tune your radio station to where you can only hear static and be sure to turn it up until your ears bleed… because you will be bound to love that too. I truly find it hard to justify that the 10 minutes of sound, that’s right… sound could be considered brilliant.

Tool will never make an album as important as Isn’t Anything or Loveless. Though I can understand non MBV fans finding the holocaust part of their set unnecessary.

I got the 3 day pass to this festival, excited to see a variety of bands over this period. I came in on saturday expecting tool to give the best performance of the day, and was very excited to see white rabbits, cage the elephant, arctic monkeys and gogol bordello. I’ll be honest I tried to get into MBV before going to the festival, but I just couldn’t. But after watching all of the bands on the main stage, Gogol Bordello had far and away the best performance. They played with energy, enthusiasm and put the crowd in a frenzy. I’m just stunned that MBV is getting all the attention. I believe their die hard fans are just doing whatever they can (claiming if you didn’t enjoy it, you must not know anything about music) to defend how amazing the sound of feedback can be. Btw, I love Mogwai (which are influenced by MBV) Tool and MBV fans should just start wearing purple.

Too bad I had to see MBV with those kids that live at hot topic types, and “normal” folks. It was great to see them get pissed off. Friggin’ hicks.
It was cool to see MBV at an open air thing with all that noise and the way those chords flow with that onslaught of noise. Man they got to headline another open air thing nearby. Love Belinda, kev, and the other 2. Keep going forever.

Let’s see….MBV’s set “vocals mixed in low” (check), “last 10 min sounded like a jet engine” (check), “..a perfect time to die..” (check); well, sounds to me like MBV’s set went as planned- wish I was there

Meesah like MBV!

I fell asleep on a friends shoulder during mbv set …everything was good!.. until their 10 minute blast….i have never been to a tool concert that was so dead…mbv just destroyed the emotion and depth tool usually creates with the audience

I fell asleep on a friends shoulder during mbv set …everything was good!.. until their 10 minute blast….i have never been to a tool concert that was so dead…mbv just destroyed the emotion and depth tool usually creates with the audience

I fell asleep on a friends shoulder during mbv set …everything was good!.. until their 10 minute blast….i have never been to a tool concert that was so dead…mbv just destroyed the emotion and depth tool usually creates with the audience

all good things