As previously reported on Dangerous Minds, Guided By Voices have once again called it a day. Leader Robert Pollard surprisingly agreed to reform the so-called “classic line-up” of GBV for Matador’s 21s birthday party in 2010, which snowballed into a successful reunion tour, a wealth of new and stellar material, as well as continued live dates. They played their final show on September 13th in Toledo. I was there.

As with most GBV performances, it was jubilant affair, with rock star poses and an audience so enrapt and caught in the moment you’d swear this was Sunday mass. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many smiling faces that looked to be roughly the same age I was when I first became a fan after hearing Bee Thousand 20 summers ago.
 

The final set-list.
 
They played a surprisingly short set and afterwards there were murmurs that what we had just witnessed was their last gig. Days later, two more show were announced and it seemed that it was all just hearsay.

When a band you love breaks up it’s always a bit sad; it feels like a death and all the clichés apply: Nothing lasts forever, at least we still have the music, the memories, blah, blah, blah. Of course, GBV fans have been through this before, but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking. Guided By Voices made extraordinary music and they managed to bottle the magic all over again, but now—for whatever reasons—it’s over. Thankfully, someone captured the final moment and the entire set is available online. Guitarist Mitch Mitchell is absolutely on fire, and I can’t help but wonder if he knew this would be the last time.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Guided By Voices have broken up
Guided By Voices Database celebrates ten years by giving away a classic GBV concert