Photo by Frank Yang
Let’s flash back for a moment to 2014, when, following a nearly 20 year break, Slowdive announced that they’d be getting back together for a series of reunion shows. This was, of course, big news as it gave fans a chance to either see a beloved band play those classic songs live once again or to see those songs performed for the first time if they didn’t get a chance to see the famed shoegazers the first time around.
I fell squarely into the latter camp, getting into Slowdive only after they had broken up and really only delving into their catalogue after first discovering Mojave 3, the post-Slowdive band that Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell and Ian McCutcheon started in 1995, not long after Slowdive’s initial dissolution. Though I was always more of a Mojave 3 fan, the prospect of a Slowdive reunion was pretty exciting regardless, and at the time, there was no way of knowing that this reunion would lead not only to some new music, but to several more tours in the ensuing years. And so, with that uncertainty in mind, I figured I’d take the chance to see them when I got it.
That was how I found myself struggling to stay up so that I could see Slowdive play at 2:00 in the morning at the 2014 edition of Denmark’s Roskilde Festival. They were a late addition to the bill, replacing Chromeo, whose electro funk would likely have been a better fit for very late on a Saturday night, but then again, I probably would have called it a night by that point had the Montreal duo still been scheduled to play that timeslot. Nothing against Chromeo, of course, but I’d seen them plenty of times, whereas, at the time, a Slowdive show seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity.
That show was indeed a memorable one, not just because songs like “Crazy For You”, “Machine Gun” and their cover of Syd Barrett’s “Golden Hair” sounded sublime in that late night/early morning setting, but also because of a couple of not-so-melancholy Danes next to me who were aggressively making out through much of the set. I mean, good for them I guess, but it was a little distracting and part of me was worried that I might forever be left associating the band with that particular memory.
Happily, that would not end up being the case as I wound up having a few more opportunities to see the English shoegazers in concert over the years, including Saturday night’s show at Massey Hall. Having missed Slowdive the last time they were in town, when they played Queen Elizabeth Theatre in September of 2023, this was my first chance to see them play the tunes from their latest, everything is alive, in a live setting. It was also my first time seeing the band live since they became a big hit with a younger crowd, following a TikTok-inspired boost in popularity. As a result, this was a fairly diverse crowd, with a significant amount of Gen Z folks commingling with the greying shoegaze veterans in attendance.
The youths were not only represented in the audience on this occasion, but onstage in the form of opener Quannnic, who started things off with their heavy take on shoegaze, one that incorporated elements of emo and metal into the mix – I detected a bit of a Deftones influence on the last couple songs in their set. They put on an impressive enough show that had me making a note to check out their albums.
Following Quannic, Slowdive took to the stage promptly at 9:15 and proceeded to put on a fantastic show, with “Star Roving”, “Sugar For The Pill” and “Alison” standing out as some of the highlights. And though the band weren’t too talkative aside from the occasional “thank you” and a few other brief bits of stage banter, it was clear that they were enjoying themselves and appreciative of the sold out crowd at Massey Hall. The crowd was also quite appreciative, especially the younger fans, and I must admit that it was kind of endearing to see them all blissed out and headbanging during “When the Sun Hits.”
Now all we need is to get something off Excuses For Travellers trending on TikTok, so we can also get a Mojave 3 reunion going sometime soon. Well, one can hope, anyways.
