My Bloody Valentine @ Barrowland, 9 March

The punters milling around the Barrowland before tonight's show are asking only one question – just how loud will they be? My Bloody Valentine reformed to play a brief UK tour in 2008, including a dazzling show at this very venue, but many of the crowd were unlikely to have even started school when the Anglo-Irish band last completed a major tour in 1992.

Since then, the group have acquired a reputation as ear-destroyers par excellence. Admittedly, Kevin Shields amp stack does look intimidatingly large on the Barrowland stage. Yet opening song I Only Said is hugely enjoyable, and far from any kind of sonic endurance test. When You Sleep explodes into life exactly as you would expect, and it's thrilling to hear older songs such as Slow make a return to the set, still a worthy precursor to the lush ambience of Loveless.

Of the new songs played from m b v – released last month after a mere 22 year wait – the standout is Only Tomorrow, with New You sounding far more sparse than it does on record. The crowd roar their approval for every song, but this is far from a flawless performance. There are a couple of false starts, and Shields can't disguise his discomfort every time he's required to sing – not that his vocals can often be heard over his guitar.

Just as the crowd begin to wonder whether My Bloody Valentine really are human like the rest of us, along comes You Made Me Realise. It's middle section, which has long since been dubbed The Holocaust, is the stuff of legend – ten minutes of pure feedback and white noise. Even if you've experienced it before, tonight it still has a deeply unsettling effect. The band close with Wonder 2 – the final, and most intriguing, track on m b v. A majestic finish to a show which proves that, as far as live experiences go, My Bloody Valentine remain peerless.