Photo by Flickr user falfa. Used by permission.

Editor’s Note: We realize this show wasn’t in, or really anywhere near, D.C. But as it was My Bloody Valentine’s only show anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic region, and lots of D.C. area folks traveled down for the show, we thought we’d share the experience for those who, sadly, couldn’t make it.

Kevin Shields knows a thing or two about myth-making. Whether by design or not, My Bloody Valentine became a mysteriously legendary band after Shields effectively put the group on hiatus and went into a Syd Barrett-esque seclusion following the release of one of the most revered records in rock history, 1991’s Loveless. Over the next 16 years, he would only surface sporadically, with a bit of recorded music here or there, or to issue cryptic statements about studio work that never saw the light of day. The follow-up to Loveless has never come, but since Shields started hinting at it in the mid-1990s, it’s become indie-rock’s Chinese Democracy, a highly anticipated record that may or may not ever be a reality.

But what is tangible ever since the band re-formed and started playing festivals last year is the fact that all the talk about My Bloody Valentine’s live show being a mind-blowing experience wasn’t just the stuff of myth. Though that live show certainly justifies its legendary status, as the group demonstrated last night in Richmond. Why Richmond? Why not D.C., or Baltimore? Who knows. Shields is severely rationing live appearances — there are only nine shows listed on the band’s web site between now and the end of the year, and only two of those (including last night) are even in the U.S. So the fact that there was any opportunity to see the band was a rare and welcome treat. That it required a two hour drive (more, if you had the misfortune of leaving during rush hour) was more than made up for by the show itself and the fact that it was at a venue as nice as Richmond’s gem of a rock club.