Still no word of our own local, cult-loved '80s/'90s alt-rock band with a reculsive leader playing a show in its hometown (the Replacements), but enigmatic Irish whir-rockers My Bloody Valentine have finally announced their first Twin Cities date in 21 years. The group with the glorious wall of sound will perform at the notoriously unglorious and poor-sounding Roy Wilkins Auditorium on Nov. 1. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 11 a.m. for $35 through Ticketmaster and the Wilkins/Xcel Energy Center box office.
It looks like MBV's last time in the Twin Cities was at First Avenue in 1992 with Dinosaur Jr. Yours truly saw that same tour in Austin, Texas, with a third opening band: None other than Minneapolis's Babes in Toyland, whose drummer Lori Barbero now counts those dates as some of her best all-time rock experiences. Another ex-local legend, Bob Mould, has repeatedly credited the Irish group's seminal "Loveless" album as the spark behind his early-'90s group Sugar. MBV just issued the long-in-the-works comeback album, "m b v," which proved worth the wait.
The one thing I remember vividly from the MBV set I saw: They played a single, reverberating note for about 10 minutes straight, which built and built into this bizarre, surreal scene where the noise seemed to have a hypnotic, strobe-light effect on the crowd. Here's hoping that isn't what their Wilkins set unintentionally sounds like. Still, better to have them there than nowhere at all.
