My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields covers The Cure with Dinosaur Jr in London
On November 14th, during a Dinosaur Jr concert at The Garage in London, frontman J Mascis welcomed My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields to the stage.
With the shoegaze proponent, Dinosaur Jr performed three tracks, ‘Tarpit’ from You’re Living All Over Me, ‘Thorn’ from My Bloody Valentine’s You Made Me Realise EP and a majestic cover of The Cure’s classic 1987 song ‘Just Like Heaven’.
Shields has been a close friend of Dinosaur Jr since 1992, when My Bloody Valentine joined the US band on a tour of North America. Since then, they have frequently shared the stage in guest appearances, including Shields’ memorable appearance at Dinosaur Jr’s Rock Camp in 2019.
On November 13th, the second night of their residency at the Islington venue, Dinosaur Jr. were joined on stage by the British comedian Richard Ayoade. This seems an unlikely pairing, but it transpires that the comedian and television host is one of the band’s biggest fans.
In 2015, the NME sent Ayoade to interview J Mascis. During the conversation, the IT Crowd star revealed that the band’s 1992 tour with Blur and My Bloody Valentine was the first concert he ever went to.
“I went to see them at Brixton Academy [April 5th, 1992], and I didn’t know people would jump up and down. So I got to the front and thought, ‘This is great’,” he said. “Then everyone started jumping and someone’s shoulder went into the bottom of my jaw, and I spat out a tooth.”
Discussing his passion for Dinosaur Jr., Ayoade said, “They’re my favourite band, every part of it is great, there’s nothing that isn’t. You just feel everything is very carefully thought about, and then when you see them live there is so much improvisation.”
Watch footage of all three songs performed by Dinosaur Jr and Kevin Shields below.
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