Suede and The Manic Street Preachers from Manchester

the arts

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When it was announced that Suede and Manic Street Preachers would be embarking on a joint tour, I was more than excited – two of my favorite bands in the same concert. I made sure I had a ticket for the Manics first time so I made my way in the drizzle to Manchester and the Castlefield Bowl.

Given that both bands will be playing on the same stage, I was curious about their setlists given their substantial catalogs. The playlist of the best of My Manics is just over five hours long!

Suede is straight into it, strong, and together, Brett Anderson seems to be defying the aging process as he languishes on stage and soon they’re in the crowd and generally having a blast. The second piece is trash, one of my favorite songs of all time. The song instantly transports me to a pre-digital era when I was hitchhiking or cadjing to faraway towns to see bands, not knowing how I would get home. I found it quite moving, in a way that only memory music can produce.

Animal Nitrate, The Drownersand We are the pigs are brilliant before Brett leads a load of songs for Saturday Night and then shows off the power of his voice, which is still full and soulful, with a beautiful acoustic rendition of The Wild Ones. The performance ends with a euphoric interpretation of Beautiful. To be honest, if I had paid to see Suede in this brilliant form I would have gone home happy, but then the Manics came roaring onto the stage.

Maniacs are in my blood. I feel like the songs, the passion and the emotion they’ve shown since they left South Wales have very much been the soundtrack to my life. When I say geeks are in my blood, I really mean it. They were in the year below me in sixth form (although I didn’t know them) and they sang strongly and used imagery from growing up in Welsh politics and its proud working class culture. I’ve seen them more times than I care to remember and always look forward to the rejuvenating experience that is Mancis Live.

You could get a good education just by delving into the writers, philosophers and events of Mancis’s lyrics and, in classic style, the backdrop before taking to the stage is a quote from Manchester author Anthony Burgess: ‘It is always good to remember where you come and celebrate it. Remembering where you came from is part of where you’re going.” – Fairly.

Normally, You love us comes towards the end of a Mancis set, but not tonight. The Manci are serious and they are from the very beginning. Everything has to go and the peerless The goal of the Motorcycle follow before fellow Welsh singer The Anchoress joins in for Little Nothing and Your love alone is not enoughand then the defiance of working-class culture in A design for life ring with everyone singing along.
The set showcases the breadth of their Orwellian back catalog from fourteenth album Mancis, showing that the band have lost none of their spirit. antifascist If you tolerate this, your children will be next, celebrating the idealism of the Welsh volunteers who joined the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War closes the set.

Both bands play 17 songs and I couldn’t have asked for more (apart from a better train service back to Leeds!). Despite both bands being around for over 30 years, the fire still burns strong and I can’t wait for the chance to see them again.