Anyone for tinnitus? My Bloody Valentine made their live return after 16 years of slow-motion procrastination this weekend, handing out free earplugs to anyone who had forgotten what ruthless sonic assaults their gigs used to be.

The foolhardy men in front of me decided they were too rock ’n’ roll for ear protection before the cult quartet appeared, perhaps thinking of their two albums, Isn’t Anything and 1991 classic Loveless, which used dreamy guitar effects and barely audible vocals to create a blissfully beautiful sound. After just three songs these fans and many others were off in desperate search of little orange ear buds.

With my plugs in, it was possible to discern gorgeous abstract shimmers within the thick murk of tracks such as To Here Knows When and When You Sleep, a multilayered sound that seemed remarkably busy to be made with just two guitars, bass and drums. When I briefly took them out, almost all I could hear was pure, brutal white noise, like a curry that’s so hot you can’t taste it.

Finally they reached the most famous part of their set — You Made Me Realise, more than 15 minutes of cacophonous, single-chord madness and the most intense live experience I think I’ve ever had. Some audience members looked genuinely in pain, many kept their hands in the air like the brave ones on a rollercoaster. It was far from enjoyable but it made clear why, so long after their creative peak, people still speak with awe about this remarkable, deafening band.