Old National Centre (Indianapolis, IN)
05/05/24
It was a warm evening in early May – one of the first days you could mistake as summer. Slowdive stopped at the Egyptian Room in the Old National Centre in Indianapolis, Indiana for a packed, hypnotic show. If you’ve never seen the nineties shoegaze group before, I urge you to get the next closest tickets available to a show. Whether you’ve been a die hard Slowdive fan for the past decade or you’re going in completely blind, Slowdive has something to offer everyone.
Their set started and ended with covers – the first of which being Brian Eno’s “Deep Blue Day.” It was incredible to watch the band play someone else’s song with a twist that was entirely their own style. The heavy, gangly guitars and dream pop synth that will make you ascend into another dimension, the outros that play on into infinity. Bands like Slowdive are hard to come by nowadays, but after seeing them live for the first time, I’ve decided that the world needs more music like theirs.
Back in 2023, Slowdive released an album entitled Everything Is Alive which highlights their iconic sound in a more lovely and, dare I say, soft kind of way. The set, however, did not focus on one album above the rest. Slowdive played a mix of songs from all of their albums, including their 1994 hit record, Souvlaki, which is set to turn thirty this fall. The crowd was fully enthralled from start to finish. It was almost like everyone was in a trance, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the swell of music or the electrifying light show going on throughout the entire show!
In total, Slowdive played about fifteen songs, and only stopped to talk a handful of times. It was very evident that the intention was to fall away into the music, and that’s exactly what both the band and the audience did. It’s safe to say that for as long as Slowdive stays in the touring game, people will show up. Some concerts serve as a means of escape, a means to connect with oneself and each other, and Slowdive gave us much more than a musical performance that night – they gave us release.
