26th February 1991 Reading, University of Reading

The piece below, entitled 'Shimmering seduction' appeared in the 01 March 1991 issue of Reading Evening Post, the reviewer was Simon Lloyd. It has been computerised by David Sanchez for The Slowdive Database.

SLOWDIVE PLAYED a corker of a gig tonight. Yet, just hours before they squeezed onto the stage they were worried no-one would show up. Can you believe that? It was an interesting experience sitting with the band in the dressing room while they messily devour fruit washed down by Red Stripe and Coca Cola. Rachel and Neil swept out of the room after five minutes with armloads of crisps, four-packs and bananas. They were going home to rest up, or something. I'm left with Christian Savill and Nick Chaplin and a young female fan who has followed them far and wide on this, their debut solo tour.

Christian: "We are a band with sex appeal. We really are very attractive to vegetables."
Nick: "None of us are technically gifted, in fact, we're all a bit sloppy really. We're musical vegetables."

These are snippets of Slowdive conversation. Odd stuff coming from the band that has been lauded as one of the major creative forces of the nineties. The luscious layer upon layer of shimmering guitar has seduced everyone Slowdive have come into contact with in the past few months. Yet these two were genuinely perturbed about the evening that lay ahead. They didn't know if it was the right time to do the home-coming and they weren't certain about who, if anyone, would show up.

The "little hall" at the Students Union was packed to exploding. Neil and Rachel were barely visible, even from my lofty vantage point atop a table. The ethereal wall of guitars moves with deliberation, the music is slow... slow... slow. Yet one section of the crowd is stomping and heaving like hell.

As Christian explained earlier: "We don't do fast songs and we're not going to do one just for the sake of it".
Nick: "If we do play fast we lose complete control two thirds of the way into the song. We've tried it, it all falls apart!"

With Slowdive it all seems so easy. All the tracks swept through us like a blast of warm air. No-one was left untouched. The time was right. The gig was a blinder. Welcome home Slowdive.