Review: Slowdive at Astor Theatre

Slowdive at Astor Theatre
w/ Blue Honey
Monday, July 17, 2023

Slowdive have charted an interesting career trajectory. As part of the initial wave of shoegaze, they were seminal in the development of modern alternative music alongside fellow stalwarts in My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush and others. More than any other, Slowdive exemplified the intersection of shoegaze’s guitar distortion with the heavenly sounds of dream pop. It’s a sound that has proven remarkably resilient, whether it be directly influencing the likes of Beach House, or indirectly reflected in the tones of cross-genre pollinators like Deafheaven. 

Unlike some of their contemporaries who tried to ride the subsequent Britpop wave, Slowdive stuck to their ever-more-ambient guns much to their commercial detriment, and disappeared in the mid 90s. Yet in 2017 a remarkable thing happened as the band emerged with a stellar self-titled comeback album which saw them picking up right where they’d left off. Since then, Slowdive have picked up a legion of new fans as their sound has found popularity once again. Who would have thought that in 2023 a band as old as Nirvana would be fronting a multi-generational crowd and bringing down the house?

Opening proceedings were local rockers Blue Honey, a band surely indebted to the masters but with its own set of tricks up their sleeve. The band has been making waves lately with their epic nineties-inflected sound. They skirt the darker side of the rock spectrum with a reverby yet heavy sound that’s not afraid of some hard riffs. 

The band kicked off with recent single Save Me, punctuating the tune with some ear-splitting screams. Burden shone, its glistening guitar work given even more punch live. The slower-paced Colin carried excellently live, its epic progression built for the stage on the shoulders of its swooping vocals and steadily increasing guitar swell. Given the glimpses of their new material from an upcoming EP, Blue Honey are certainly ones to watch.

Slowdive came on after a short wait and dove straight in. Ambient tones were set against a background of amorphous lights, a signal of what was to come in a set that evoked the dreamlike sensation of flying on a moonlit night. Slomo kicked things off with its distinctive delayed guitar line, the tune given even more room to breathe live. The Astor carried the Slowdive sound beautifully, balancing all instruments perfectly as the band adapted to each tune. 

On the opener, frontman Neil Halstead’s vocals were prominent but set on a par with the shimmering guitar work, his voice an extra instrument. Indeed, for the opening third of the set Slowdive indulged in more exploratory and building tunes that were surprisingly post rock in their mission statement. A two-punch combo from their 1990 debut EP showcased the band at its most floaty and foreboding. Slowdive rode cathartic waves of chugging guitar, its swirling sound all-encompassing. 

This segued into the spooky and drone-like Avalyn, which ebbed and flowed on an ocean of what sounded like tremolo picked guitars in a performance that would make a black metal band blush. Catch the Breeze completed the run of early tunes, a haunting lullaby with a greater focus on its skittering drum line and haunting waves of Mellotron-esque synths.

Star Roving from the band’s latest injected a boost of power chord driven energy in a great bit of sequencing, before the band transitioned once more to trance-land with Souvlaki Space Station. With its busier drum line, delayed guitar riff and driving bass, this was an instrumental highlight for the night, especially its mighty guitar solo coda that layered into itself before collapsing into a wall of sound. To follow, the band was set against a backdrop of geometric shapes for the ringing tones of the ambient-minded Crazy for You.

Whereas the earlier material showcased the band in full hypnotic flight, the latter half of the set reminded us why they were once a chart presence as they dived into their equally haunting but catchier pop tunes. Sugar For the Pill is the mightiest tune from their 2017 comeback and drew raucous applause. With its Stone Roses influenced bass line and heavenly vocals, the tune was given the sparsity it deserved in arguably the most beautiful moment of the night. 

Later in the evening the band served up latest single Kisses which ranks up there with their 2017 material and featured some angelic harmonising between Halstead and vocalist/guitarist Rachel Goswell. Goswell delivered the sole bit of stage banter of the night, an ode to her four cats and a tortoise called Derrick, with an extra ‘Bo’ reserved if she turned out to be female. It was lovely but it was all the audience got as Slowdive let their music do the talking.

The remainder of the set was nineties in flavour, a set of crowd favourites from 1993 classic LP Souvlaki that needed little introduction. Alison, When the Sun Hits, and the encore of Dagger and 40 Days all went off with aplomb. Dagger was a particular showcase of the band’s breadth, the reverb and synth washes dropped in favour of Halstead and his spare acoustic guitar in the band’s saddest and most effecting moment. 40 Days was the perfect closer, alternating grungey rock bombast and swirling shoegaze glory and featuring some massive guitar breaks. 

In one of the finest gigs this year, Slowdive delivered an emotional high and maintained their energy for almost two hours. As the lights came on and it was finally over, fans young and old shifted out, bleary-eyed and still riding a dream-like wave.

MATIJA ZIVKOVIC

Photos by Adrian Thomson