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Babes In Toyland’s Kat Bjelland rocking out at The HMV Forum, London, UK - 9/18/93

The performance was incredible! However, a couple of moshers decided to be losers and harass Kat while she was performing. Luckily, security took care of the problem.

Time isn't always a cruel mistress. Attending a Slowdive gig in 2014, one could expect to rub shoulders with a legion of rheumy-eyed nostalgists, recalling the glory days of TFI Friday and Street Fighter II before the Millennium Bug hit us with all the ferocity of a damp squib. There were fans of all ages within the milieu, and while nostalgia was very much part of the evening, it felt somehow apt in light of such wistful material. Seeing Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell, Simon Scott, Christian Savill and Nick Chaplin once again take to the stage was far from the farce it could have been. There was genuine respect and dare I say it, love in the crowd for this band, and it was hard to not get swept up by it. A particularly glamorous Rachel made her way across the stage to raucous applause, and Halstead, now an artfully grizzled lumberjack, received an equally joyous welcome.

One might question the relevance of a band which only really existed for a few short years before being dropped by their record label within a week of the release of their third album. To my mind, Slowdive were like the pastoral Yang to My Bloody Valentine’s Yin, an innocent and romantic take on the fuzzy, druggy shoegaze craze that swept the music press for half a decade. Perhaps this is what separates the music of Slowdive from their contemporaries; while MBV delighted us with their vision of a kaleidoscopic haze, Lush toyed with thick walls of pop sexuality and The Jesus and Mary Chain gracefully evolved through the violence of their early live shows, Slowdive were content to serenade us with sweetness and light. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all.

The set slowly built up with Slowdive and Avelyn before launching into the mighty Catch the Breeze, with suitably airy guitars and mellifluous vocals. The songs came across as more crushing and intense than they ever have on the albums. Some pretty far-out visuals were projected at the rear of the stage while the band played on; Neil in his chequered shirt and Rachel in those treacherous heels. Around a third of the way into the performance, Neil strummed those chords in that way which could only mean one thing… They were about to play Souvlaki Space Station. Now I know this is a typical fan favourite, but at this point in the set, any doubts as to the validity of this reunion were dispelled. A similar moment took place during When the Sun Hits, an absolute stonker of a song, and at this volume, so close to the stage, it was heavy stuff. The set was concluded with Rutti and 40 Days, fantastically well-crafted pieces of reflective, escapist fantasy. As the set concluded, Brian Eno’s An Ending (Ascent) began to play, a dreamlike ambience which captures the weightless dreamscape of Slowdive's namesake perfectly.

This performance, much like the band and arguably, the shoegaze style itself, seemed to fly past at just the right pace and conclude before we could become restless. This felt like the moment that the band was waiting for. A more mature, crushing rendition of something we have grown to love. A very enjoyable night, and with influential British shoegazers Ride and The Jesus and Mary Chain playing reunion shows in 2015, there’s lots of revivalist fun to be had in the near future.