Manic Street Preachers

I saw the Manics at Reading 2008. They were headlining the second stage (Killers were on the main stage). All my mates (17 of them!) went to watch the Killer and I sat down at the back of the tent with a beer and watched the Manics. It was a good decision. They were amazing. It was a year after Send Away The Tigers and they played some songs off that album. I thought it was a really strong album so it was nice to hear some songs live.

The three headliners I watched over that weekend were Rage Against The Machine, The Manics and Metallica. Not bad!
 
Maiden would have smashed the 27,000 sales the Manics had if they delayed the album by a week:lol:
 
The rolling stone article about Maiden seems to suggest that the Drake release caught them by surprise. Presumably an album can be "dropped" at fairly short notice when there's no lead time on producing physical copies because there are none.
 
Great gig by The Manics last Friday. They played 5 new songs that worked really well in the set (a shame they did not play Don't Let the Night Divide Us though, with the immortal line Don't let those boys from Eton Suggest that we are beaten, no, no, no).

As usual since 2019, they included a cover of Sweet Child O' Mine. I would have preferred one of their songs, but it was nice to enjoy that song without having to endure Axl Rose's voice. :lol:

1 hour and 35 minutes with no encore (what is the point in leaving the stage if everyone knows the band will be coming back to play more songs?).

This was the setlist:

Motorcycle Emptiness
Orwellian
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
The Secret He Had Missed
Enola/Alone
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
Still Snowing in Sapporo
Everything Must Go
Complicated Illusions
International Blue
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
La tristesse durera (Scream to a Sigh)
Sweet Child o' Mine
Tsunami
Afterending
Slash 'n' Burn
Spectators of Suicide
Ocean Spray
You Love Us
A Design for Life
 
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Back in 2011, the Manic Street Preachers went back to play a gig at their hometown (Blackwood) for the first time in 25 years. The BBC covered the whole thing.

 
One thing that is particularly poignant about this band is that the side of the stage where Richie Edwards would have been has remained empty since his disappearance.
 
One thing that is particularly poignant about this band is that the side of the stage where Richie Edwards would have been has remained empty since his disappearance.
I like that. I guess they're like to think that he is with them and when they look at that empty space they can feel his presence.
 
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