Ruben (30,000 Monkies – vocals/guitar)
SPB: What is the worst reunion concert you ever saw?
Ruben: I've never really seen a bad reunion concert actually, but there is one that I attended that had some shitty consequences for us. In 2009, at Pukkelpop festival, My Bloody Valentine played their first concert in Belgium since their reunion. All in all it was a pretty awesome concert: very loud and the physical wall of sound that My Bloody Valentine is known for (including a 15 minute 'Holocaust section' in “You Made Me Realise”). They reached decibel levels between 125db and 130db, which caused some kind of outrage in Flanders and, ultimately, the Flemish government passed a very strict law to limit sound levels at concerts (a maximum mean of 100db over 15 minutes). So thanks to My Bloody Valentine, we're now unable to play loud concerts which we always thought was an important element of our live show. We did get an honorable mention as a bad example in the presentation that aimed to teach live sound techs how to cope with the norm though, which at least was a little funny to us. Oh well, luckily there are still some venues that don't follow the regulations too closely.
