A working class hero is something to be….
Perhaps it’s fitting that the Manics are playing Liverpool on what would have been the cusp of John Lennon’s eightieth birthday. Despite New Labour’s practical betrayal of the working classes (to quote Nicky Wire, “they thought they could fob people off with free wi-fi and Costa Coffee and that would somehow get them out of poverty”) and the threat of Tory cuts becoming a stark reality, the Manics seem to be the only band currently still fighting for the working man.
With the current political climate, it’s incomprehensible that tasteless dance music is controlling the mainstream. As a result, the Manics’ brand of literate, industrial town glamour is possibly more relevant than when they first appeared. And we get the glamour by the bucket load: the stage is adorned with huge red velvet curtains and two eerie sparkly mannequins.
Although this tour coincides with the release of their tenth studio album, the setlist is surprisingly light with songs from Postcards From A Young Man. Instead of the promotional hard sell, we get a track from every album (although James Dean Bradfield wryly hints that we might want to go to the bar around track eighteen). It’s essentially a Manic Street Preachers manifesto. A distillation of what makes the band so important.
Opening with You Love Us, the line “Understand we can never belong” has never been so fitting. Although Nicky Wire has claimed Postcards to be their “last shot at mass communication”, the reality is that the political and social awareness embedded in the Manics is a million miles away from the depressing passivity of the charts. More so than ever, the Manics have become a cult: and as always, it’s a disparate cult. We get the feather boa wearers and the Holy Bible fanatics in full sailor costumes but unlike some previous tours, the casual fan who taps his steering wheel along to You Stole The Sun From My Heart is missing. By the time the Manics hit the crowd with Motorcycle Emptiness third in the set, there is no one who isn’t screaming the refrain back at the band, fists in the air.
The addition of a supporting guitarist a few years ago has transformed the Manics. Instead of holding everything together, James Dean Bradfield now has a sense of casualness. Possibly the most naturally talented guitarist of his generation, the abandon with which he performs brain-baffling solos running the length of the stage is breathtaking. Of course as always, Nicky Wire spends the duration of the gig pogo-ing like a teenager and hoisting his microphone into the crowd at every opportunity.
They are stunning throughout. A personal highlight is the heartbreaking This Is Yesterday being followed by the rousing pomp of Everything Must Go: the Manics effectively encapsulating the most turbulent period of their history in a glorious double blow. We are then privileged enough to witness local legend Ian McCulloch joining the band on stage to sing his vocal part on Some Kind Of Nothingness.
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Of course his appearance was possibly the worst kept secret in Liverpool that day but when he returns for an acoustic version of the Bunnymen’s Killing Moon later in the set, it’s a once in a lifetime moment. When McCulloch misses his cue for the final verse and in vain tries to persuade James Dean Bradfield to sing, it’s one of small events that reminds you (if you ever need reminding), why you love music.
Following this special treat, the rest of the band return (Nicky with touched up make up and a newly acquired dress) and fire through a vicious Faster and a rarely performed cover of Suicide Is Painless in preparation for the inevitable closer of A Design For Life. Perhaps it’s the location (if anywhere encapsulates New Labour’s failure to overturn Thatcher’s anti-trade union stance, it’s Liverpool), but I’ve never heard the chorus belted back from the crowd with such dangerous intensity. The Manics then leave without playing an encore, because they said they never would. At least some people keep their promises.
Manic Street Preachers played
You Love Us
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
Motorcycle Emptiness
It’s Not War (Just The End Of Love)
Jackie Collins’ Existential Question Time
Roses In The Hospital
Postcards From A Young Man
This Is Yesterday
Everything Must Go
Autumnsong
Some Kind Of Nothingness feat. Ian McCulloch
Tsunami
From Despair to Where
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
You Stole The Sun From My Heart (acoustic)
Killing Moon (acoustic) feat. Ian McCulloch on vocals and James on guitar
Faster
Empty Souls
Golden Platitudes
Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)
Kevin Carter
Ocean Spray
A Design For Life
Check out some of the show at:
Manics in Liverpool on YouTube1
Manics in Liverpool on YouTube2
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