The Manic Street Preachers are a band who
I have grown up loving but only managed to see
live once when the headlined the Reading Festival
back in 2001 but as soon as soon as they announced
The National Treasures show at the O2 arena I
knew I had to go and booked my ticket straight
away.
For The National Treasures show the Manic Street
Preachers announced that they would be playing
two sets which would see them playing all 38 singles
which span across their mammoth 21 year career,
it was also announced that there would be no support
band and everyone was urged to get there at 7.30pm
as that was when the Manics were due on stage
and they also stated that they would be mixing
the set list up slightly from their ‘National
Treasures’ singles compilation album.
The doors for the venue opened at 6.30pm so we
decided to make our way to the venue at 7pm and
we got greeted with the biggest queue ever, at
7.30pm we were still queuing up and there was
a lot of fans getting a bit angry but then an
announcement came over the tannoy saying that
the show has been delayed by 15 minutes to ensure
all fans get in for the start.
We finally made our way into the venue as the
Manics opened ‘You Stole The Sun From My
Heart’ and moments later James Dean Bradfield
made a little joke about the late start telling
the sold out venue I told you to be here at 7.30pm
on the dot and you were late, everyone had a chuckle
and the Manics carried on with the hits smashing
out ‘Love’s Sweet Exile’.
James Dean spent a lot of time talking to the
crowd and one of the most important statements
he said was early on when he said there will be
many moments where people will go to the bar during
songs but for this song everyone stays before
unleashing the fantastic ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’
which had the whole venue on their feet singing
along.
The hits kept coming during the first set with
‘(It’s Not War) Just The End Of Love’,
‘Everything Must Go’, ‘Kevin
Carter’, ‘ Empty Souls’, ‘The
Everlasting’ and many more being played
but it was ‘Let Robeson Sing’ which
was one of the main highlights with Gruff Rhys
from The Superfurry Animals taking to the stage
for the song, the first set closed with a massive
sing-a-long to ‘If You Tolerate This your
Children Will be Next’.
After a short interval the Manics came back on
and wasted no time blasting straight into ‘Australia’,
as the set progressed the Manics played the sing-a-long
classic ‘You Love Us’ and also ‘Suicide
Is Painless’ which happens to be the theme
song from MASH and just before they played this
James Dean told the crowd how he still remembers
the day back in 1992 when the band entered the
top 10 of the singles chart for the first time
with this song.
There was a lot of interaction between most songs
with James dean and Nicky Wire talking to the
crowd about the old days and how they came up
with ideas for certain singles and also talking
about the ever so talented late Richey Edwards.
Towards the end of the second set Nina Persson
from The Cardigans came on to sing their fantastic
single ‘Your Love Is Not Alone’ and
from this moment the rest of the show went extremely
quick and before you knew it the Manics were laying
down the last moments of the set closer and their
first ever number one single ‘A Design For
Life’.
Before the Manics left the stage James Dean told
the crowd how much he still misses Richey Edwards
and also explained that the band are not breaking
up and they hope to be back on the road touring
in two years time, the band left the stage apart
from Nicky Wire who stayed to show off his usual
rock and roll side smashing up his bass.
Overall I don’t think there could ever
be a more perfect Manic Street Preachers gig apart
from the obvious having Richey Edwards alive but
sadly life is not that perfect, the stage show
the band had was fantastic with massive screens
showing their videos and various other bits of
art, the lighting was also great with a massive
array of lighting coming at you all the time,
the stage itself was slightly festive with a couple
of trees on stage and the Manics themselves mixed
things up with two solid sets played in a way
that no one could of ever predicted the set list
order and the fact they invited Gruff Rhys and
Nina Persson down made things that little bit
more special.
5/5
Review By Trigger
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