Slowdive – The National Stadium – Live Review
by Killian Laher

Slowdive at The National Stadium on 6/11/23

Something of an old-fashioned venue, The National Stadium played host to what I believe is the first-ever headline show in Dublin by Slowdive.  Ten years ago there was little interest in the band, but post-reformation and two albums later there was a huge crowd, not just an older contingent, but plenty of under 30s were in attendance.  Irish band Gurriers were first up, playing a brand of infectious, shouty rock.  With their energetic frontman leading the charge, Sign of the Times provoked an outbreak of moshing and an adrenaline-fuelled Approachable and Come and See rounded off an impressive set.

Slowdive opened with two relatively new songs, Shanty and Star Roving, playing them with a massive, enveloping sound.  It’s a sound that makes it difficult to pick out individual instruments, or the voices of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell, neither of whom are particularly strong vocalists, but that’s not the point.  Many of the songs sounded far stronger live than the recorded versions.  Typical of this was Catch The Breeze, which featured a blistering guitar solo and a gorgeous, soaring outro.  Trippier moments came with Souvlaki Space Station and a rocked-up Crazy For You, while a powerful version of the relatively poppy kisses bobbed along with echoes of New Order, sounding like a colossus.

The night was a combination of beautiful drifting music such as Slomo and muscular, wall of sound style tracks like Alison, all accompanied by cool visuals and very little staring at shoes.  On the other hand, a sizeable portion of the audience, who probably weren’t born when much of the material was written, seemed positively euphoric, lost in a closed-eyes haze.  Their set finished with a long drawn-out version of Syd Barrett’s Golden Hair, Halstead and co conjuring up massive waves of Mogwai-like sound, crashing into the audience.  An encore of Dagger saw phones in the air before finishing with a bass-heavy version of the slab and a rocking 40 Days which got many of the crowd jumping around.  Good to see this band, who were dismissed around the time of Britpop, not only get deserved acclaim but also look like they’ve found a new audience.  Word is they’ll be back next year!