Rollercoaster Tour

Rollercoaster Tour
Tour by Blur, Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain
A monochrome image of the word "rollercoaster" in large warped text. Other text reads "Blur", "Dinosuar Jr", "My Bloody Valentine" and "The Jesus and Mary Chain". A logo for Melody Maker is seen in the top right corner.
Official tour poster
LocationUnited Kingdom
Associated album
Start date24 March 1992 (1992-03-24)
End date7 April 1992 (1992-04-07)
Legs1
No. of shows11

The Rollercoaster Tour was a 1992 co-headlining concert tour by the Scottish noise pop band the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Irish-English alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine, the English Britpop band Blur and the American indie rock band Dinosaur Jr.[1] A two-leg 34-date tour of the United Kingdom and North America, the U.K. tour was in support of all four bands' current releases: Blur's first album Leisure (1991), Dinosaur Jr.'s fourth album Green Mind (1991), My Bloody Valentine's second album Loveless (1991) and The Jesus and Mary Chain's fourth album Honey's Dead (1992).

The tour was curated by the Jesus and Mary Chain's vocalist Jim Reid, who "wanted to break the routine" of performing in small, frequently played venues – such as Rock City in Nottingham – and "cater to all strands of independent rock music".[2] Reid was inspired by, and considered the Rollercoaster Tour a British equivalent to, the North American festival Lollapalooza,[3][4] at which the Jesus and Mary Chain performed at in 1991 and which he considered "fairly disastrous".[2] Each band performed a 45-minute set with no encore and the line-up changed each night of the tour, although the Jesus and Mary Chain performed as the final act on all 11 dates.[5]

My Bloody Valentine ceased live performances in the UK after the tour and did not play again until their 2008 reunion tour.[6] The band's set, which ended with the white noise section of their song "You Made Me Realise", reportedly caused attendees' pint glasses to fall out of their hands due to excessive sound pressure levels.[7] Reflecting on the tour, Jim Reid referred to it as "a lot [like a] competition – who could be the loudest? Whose was the best film show? And then there was, who could be most off their tits and still play a show?"[2] The Rollercoaster EP, containing material from Blur, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr. and the Jesus and Mary Chain, was issued in Melody Maker in March 1992 to promote the tour.[8]

The North American leg of the tour took place in fall 1992 and featured the Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve and Spiritualized.[9]

  1. ^ Brook & Buckley 2003, p. 710.
  2. ^ a b c Perry, Andrew (April 2013). "Eyewitness – The Rollercoaster Tour, 1992, Part 1: Like Minds United". Mojo (233): 29–30.
  3. ^ Morris, Damien (19 February 2013). "News | Live Report: Dinosaur Jr". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  4. ^ Hawkes, Deborah (2003). "Music – Review of The Jesus and Mary Chain: Live in Concert". BBC Music. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  5. ^ The Rollercoaster Tour, 1992 (TV). London: Beat UK (ITV). September 1992.
  6. ^ Bennett, Ross (16 November 2007). "My Bloody Valentine: Tour Sold Out!". Mojo. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  7. ^ Dogliani, Zaki (18 February 2013). "Live: My Bloody Valentine at Electric Brixton". Epigram. University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  8. ^ Strong 2002, p. 292.
  9. ^ Augusto, Troy J. (24 November 1992). "Jesus & Mary Chain; Curve; Spiritualized; Medicine". Variety. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2020.