The Rollercoaster Tour was a 1992 co-headlining concert tour by the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr. and Blur. A one-leg 11-date tour of the United Kingdom, the tour was in support of all four bands' current releases: Blur's debut 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 Nottingham's Rock City—and "cater to all strands of independent rock music". Reid was inspired by, and considered the Rollercoaster Tour a British equivalent to, the North American festival Lollapalooza, which the Jesus and Mary Chain performed at in 1991 and which he considered "fairly disastrous". 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.
My Bloody Valentine ceased live performances in the UK after the tour and did not play again until their 2008 reunion tour. The band's set, which ended with a noise section of their song "You Made Me Realise" referred to as the "holocaust section", reportedly caused attendees' pint glasses to fall out of their hands due to excessive sound pressure levels. 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?". 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.
The dates:
- March 24, 1992 Manchester Apollo
- March 25, 1992 Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow
- March 27, 1992 Whitley Bay Ice Rink
- March 28, 1992 Sheffield Arena
- March 30, 1992 Plymouth Pavilions
- April 1, 1992 Brighton Centre
- April 3, 1992 National Ice Rink in Cardiff
- April 4, 1992 NEC Arena in Birmingham
- April 5-7, 1992 Brixton Academy in London
Rollercoaster EP
The Rollercoaster EP is an extended play which was distributed free in a March 1992 issue of Melody Maker in support of the Rollercoaster Tour. It includes four songs, "Resigned" from Blur's second album Modern Life is Rubbish (1993), a live version of "The Post" from Dinosaur Jr.'s third album Bug (1987), "Only Shallow" from My Bloody Valentine's second album Loveless (1991) and "Teenage Lust" from the Jesus and Mary Chain's fourth album Honey's Dead (1992).