GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY
Who
I headed down to London straight after work with surprisingly little disruption or delay, the only issue was buying an anytime ticket to Clapham Junction from Euston and then being told by the rude bint on the tube gates that it wasn't valid. Considering it's physically impossible to make that journey from Euston without using the tube I have rarely felt so completely conned, but as I was keen to complete my journey and didn't have any suitably gruesome weaponry on me I just got another ticket and made my way there without even bothering to ask for a refund and then inevitably getting fobbed off. Upon arrival at Clapham we went out for an Italian meal at Strada, which is a chain restaurant I've never heard of, before heading back and stocking up on beer as it was too busy to be out and about being a Friday night and all. At the restaurant I chose my favourite of Chicken Milanese which was in the thinnest batter ever yet still was rather nice. The next day I went out in my old Manics top which I used to wear to every gig before I simply forgot to keep doing it. It's old and full of holes but is quite interesting as it has the "if I can shoot rabbits then I can shoot fascists" quote from If You Tolerate This on the back despite the fact I purchased it well before that single had ever been released! After a large breakfast we headed into town and tried to see the tall buildings of the City Of London but gave this up due to the rain, mainly because I didn't want to risk ruining yet another camera. We headed past the very smelly and underwhelming St Paul's Cathedral protest towards the Museum Of London, which was much larger and more impressive than I'd remembered. I was having to revisit the landmarks of London after originally making the mistake of doing it all without a proper camera, but since I hadn't been there in five years I was probably due to go back anyway.
After enjoying some millionaire shortbread and visiting the Charles Dickens exhibition - which was most notable for including his actual writing desk - we headed further north to the Barbican area, most likely because I had the "Sting singing on the roof of the Barbican" line from Half Man Half Biscuit stuck in my head but also because I'd never been there before. The whole complex was an unexpected delight though, being an utterly fascinating 1960s self-contained town built largely out of concrete. In the middle stood an old church, albeit with a very plain interior, which had survived the great fire and there was also a conservatory and massive open lakes for the people living within their concrete flats. It was also delightfully quiet and free of traffic so made a welcome choice on what was supposedly one of the busiest days of the year. We didn't spend long at the Barbican though, although it had an art gallery totally devoid of explanation, presumably just containing an arbitrary collection of art with no theme whatsoever! We then headed back into the city and climbed Monument which was utterly exhausting. We were treated with a view of some very cool clouds over the city upon reaching the top and also received a certificate at the bottom to show we'd climbed it, which was ultimately an annoyance as it meant I had to carry it around and keep it flat for the rest of the evening! It felt much safer than that death trap column I'd climbed on Anglesey but the view wasn't as impressive as the Menai Strait, albeit still very nice. We tried to get a pint in the pub at the foot of the Monument but the one bar girl was lazily having a cigarette break so we made a swift exit and headed for the wonderful Lyceum Tavern. I enjoyed fish and chips and just the one lovely pint, showing rare restraint as I didn't want to be pissed for a once-in-a-lifetime Da Vinci exhibition. I then remembered that we'd missed visiting Pudding Lane, the source of the Great Fire which we'd also learned about in the Museum Of London. Interestingly the height of the Monument is the exact distance between it and the place where the fire started and the column was built in remembrance of the occasion.
We then headed to Trafalgar Square, which was pleasantly mild for the time of year, and I took some shots outside before heading into the museum, frustratingly noting that you weren't allowed to take photos of the permanent collection either! I guess that means there's no desperate need for me to return, but we didn't have time anyway so we headed into the Da Vinci exhibition which was as fabulous as I'd expected despite the terrible decision to not put both versions of The Virgin Of The Rocks side-by-side. I presume it was something to do with crowd control but they should have found a way to make it work as that clearly was the entire purpose of bringing the paintings together. We had been worried about running out of time as we'd booked the exhibition for 4:30pm and the Manics were due onstage at 7:30pm but in the end it was no problem at all and we had no need to rush. The purpose of the early fish and chips was so we wouldn't have to find somewhere to eat between the exhibition and the gig but I even had time to take more photos of Trafalgar Square, most notably of the very cool ship in a bottle on the fourth plinth, the massive Christmas tree from Norway plus the Olympics countdown clock. Back to the exhibition, it was fascinating to note we'd booked it ages in advance without a problem and then interest took hold and it completely sold out, which worked out nicely for us, and there was also some crazed lady who blatantly got her camera out with the brightest flash ever to take a shot of one of the insignificant paintings which wasn't even by Da Vinci. A Da Vinci exhibition is just about the only one where I can understand a no photography rule, so for someone to not only ignore that, but to use a flash and then not even choose a decent painting was quite extraordinary, but she did get away with it! After leaving we headed for Westminster station and got the tube to the Millennium Dome which only took 12 minutes (it was advertised as taking 17 minutes!). In fact there'd been a rather cool river boat service which was also advertised but we couldn't be sure of our exact timings so had to give it a miss.
We quickly headed inside and I recalled that I'd last been here for the Monkey musical by Damon Albarn back in 2008 and should have returned to see Michael Jackson in February 2010. In fact that show clashed with the Grammy Awards where Janet Jackson said that Michael had been planning to attend, which was either a white lie on her behalf or an indication that Michael had never had any intention of playing the show I'd booked tickets for! We'd arrived in pretty good time, with the doors opening at 6:30pm and the show due to start at 7:30pm. Rather frustratingly the whole complex seemed to include just the one pub, hence the huge open concrete space around the back with the temporary toilets would have made one hell of a nice German beer hall! Presumably it has been left open for access to the arena though? By now we'd been out all day and it would have been nice to have freshened up first but we had to make do with the scummy toilets before joining the queue and getting in without a hitch. There were some Nazi signs outside the front entrance indicating that photography was forbidden and that cameras would be confiscated so I went out of my way to hide it, not that they even checked in the end. A smaller sign implied that the notice only concerned "professional" cameras but judging from the number of cameras filming the show inside they weren't too bothered about it anyway. It's funny really as we'd got through to the Da Vinci exhibition containing probably the most extraordinary collection of art ever assembled in such a small space with no security checks whatsoever. Once we got inside the arena we were taken up escalators towards the top, noting that t-shirts were priced at £25 and that you could even get fish and chips, although I dread to think how much they'd had cost! Indeed the seats were as extraordinarily high as we'd been led to believe but it was worth it as we had a totally unobstructed view (except when the people in front got up) and could absorb the scale of the place and the overall performance from our position. It was certainly better than the many seats further down which were facing sideways rather than the stage, including the hospitality boxes which were bafflingly mostly empty. I would've thought that the show had probably sold out all 20,000 tickets, except for the seats at the back, but apparently not?
Also our seats way up on level 4 were astonishingly comfortable, which was greatly appreciated for such a long show, and not even the lack of legroom affected us too much. We also had the added plus of being very near to the exit which would come in handy afterwards, although I did pick the seats with that in mind! The Manics were clearly in control of the DJ booth with an endless selection of creditable Christmas tunes, including a very large number of Beach Boys classics including Frosty The Snowman and Child Of Winter (Christmas Song), with Frosty The Snowman notably being followed by another (inferior) version. There also was ticker-tape advertising projected around the sides of the arena, much as you'd get at football matches, and the whole atmosphere was clearly very corporate but, if that did help keep the ticket price down, it's a small price to pay. Everyone had clearly been warned by several email communications that the band would be onstage at 7:30pm yet many had failed to heed the message and the show was 20 minutes late to start. Eventually the lights went down and a very long introductory track was played, including a video of the girl from the National Treasures - Greatest Hits artwork on the two side screens, before the Manics bounded onstage and James pointed out that "the invitation had said 7:30pm sharp", suggesting that the band had delayed their start for the benefit of those too dumb to read and follow the clear instructions! James announced that the art of the single is dead but that tonight was intended to celebrate 38 of them, and the stage was graced with not one but two Welsh flags. They kicked off reasonably enough with You Stole The Sun From My Heart, which is a popular yet greatly overrated single. At first the sound was a bit dodgy and feedback-heavy yet it improved greatly in the second half, but the real positives were that my ears didn't whistle at all afterwards and that the sound quality of the video recordings I took came out perfectly. There were however a couple of times when James's guitar let out a wail of feedback and he proclaimed what a professional outfit they were, much as Half Man Half Biscuit would do in their shoes.
In fact it even took a while for the cheers to reach us due to the size of the arena, although I could have just imagined this? You Stole The Sun was played very simply but was followed wonderfully by Love's Sweet Exile where a large central screen in the middle of the stage was unveiled to show some classic old band footage. It also was fantastic to hear this song live for the first time in so many years and it was done properly too, ultimately transforming a very weak single into a near-classic! James then announced that they'd be playing quite a few songs tonight where we'd want to go to the bar but this wasn't one of them, before launching into Motorcycle Emptiness which went down a storm. This was followed by the reasonably-epic-but-ultimately-not-their-best (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love before Everything Must Go demonstrated why I dislike the song so much, sounding blustery yet flat. In quite a few cases the band mostly relied on the original video for backing combined with live video on the side screens (or spliced into the archived footage) but the undoubted highlight of the show was the fact that just about everything was done "properly", with nothing tossed off apologetically or wasted in some acoustic segment. It was this positive attitude which meant that even songs such as She Is Suffering sounded utterly wondrous, so much so that I even recorded my first video of the evening for it. James announced that when they'd written it they'd thought it was their Every Breath You Take. I'm not sure about that, but after 15 years of indifference I finally fell in love with the song! It even overshadowed the impact of From Despair To Where before I took my second video with the epic Autumnsong, a song which the band seem to have bizarrely disowned but I will regard as their last truly extraordinary single. It was strange to be so far away that the band looked like ants and you could barely see the moshing taking place by the real fans to some of the older classics, plus the cameras in the air looked almost like stars on the ground from our vantage point. Empty Souls was introduced by Nicky as the first tonight from "that beast" Lifeblood and was yet another example of an unliked minor single - albeit one which almost reached number one somehow - being played with astonishing energy by the group. It should have been the highlight of the show but when Gruff was beckoned onstage to sing Let Robeson Sing it strangely became the one song which wasn't performed "faithfully" and therefore was not as exciting as it could have been. I almost would have preferred to hear James singing it, but he only harmonised a bit at the end. However I did record the entire song and txtd home about it, and it was very interesting to hear Gruff's take on it, in particular how he adopted a very deep voice on the chorus. It also was amusing when Gruff introduced himself with a curt "ello" and I wonder if he stayed around afterwards for the rest of the show?
It really says something about the night that this wasn't the highlight, but it ultimately comes down to the sheer quantity of good songs, all being performed properly and with enough variety to retain our full attention throughout. After the voiceover by Robeson himself Gruff left the stage and Nicky introduced Faster as being Richey Edward's masterpiece. That may be true thanks to the "I know I believe in nothing but it is my nothing" lyric but it would be for nothing without the thunderous music to back it up. I took my camera out again but this was one video which came out more than a bit blurred as I didn't pre-zoom in the picture plus the sound was muffled, no doubt as my finger was blocking the sound hole! This was followed by Life Becoming A Landslide which was delivered very tenderly and slightly slowed down for maximum impact so yet again my camera was whipped out to capture the moment. Knowing I'd be getting to hear fifteen pre-1996 singles was something to savour! Kevin Carter saw a guest trumpeter rather than Sean's skills being utilised whereas Little Baby Nothing proved a missed opportunity as James sung the whole thing by himself. It's blatantly a duet so I'm sure they could have got somebody, even Nina Persson, but I joked that the band simply don't know any girls and ultimately it was admirable how James took on even more work by singing the duet with himself. This Is The Day was next up and is a suitably bombastic greatest hits album choice yet is let down solely by the fact it's not an original version. I very firmly believe that the mark of a true artist is writing your own songs, which is why Elvis will never prove a millionth as significant as The Beatles and why I'm sure the Manics could have pulled a new classic of their own out of their hats, or even picked something out of their archives. For example, Judge Yr'self or Jackie Collins Existential Question Time are "old" songs which emerged many years after the event but are clearly good enough to have been singles and I'd like to think that there are similarly great Manics songs or Richey lyrics kicking around in the vaults which could have been utilised for the occasion? James introduced The Everlasting as having a fuckload of chords in it and it featured the video shot in London Euston in the background, which I was intrigued to watch and note that he was singing from a bar balcony which I've drunk from myself! As I remarked a couple of week afterwards though, the song would have been much better preserved as an epic album opener and should never have come out as a single.
Indian Summer passed me by as much as it did on its original release whereas it's always nice to hear Stay Beautiful, even if it was slightly let down by the "fuck off" from the audience not quite being in unison. Whether that was down to the speed of sound dispersing it or some of the crowd not being sufficiently knowledgeable however I cannot say. This was then followed by an electrifying take on If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, which I am positive becomes better every time I hear it. This was a suitably exciting way to finish off the first half as the band left the stage, the break no doubt being reduced thanks to the late start. We stayed put and I managed to recall exactly which songs had been played and determined that the Manics were precisely halfway through with another 19 tunes to go. Obviously I couldn't recall the order they were played in but finding a setlist afterwards always seems to be easy enough. The band returned to the stage with the typically excellent opener Australia and the sound quality was much clearer from this point onwards. James had in fact done a costume change from black to black, whereas Nicky had stated he couldn't wait to get into a skirt and got changed onstage partway through this set, not that you could really tell from our distance anyway. As well as a skirt, Nicky also wore a Spillers Records fleece in a pleasing nod to the great city of Cardiff which looked plenty warm enough for an indoor gig. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh) is rarely omitted and it is always a highlight as I recorded a large portion of it, including the excellent rock-out, lightshow and usage of the original video promo. Found That Soul was similarly exciting whereas even There By The Grace Of God displayed a certain elegance despite my announcing that it was the worst single they'd ever released. Some Kind Of Nothingness isn't much better but would have been redeemed with a guest vocalist, but yet again James decided to do it all by himself. I appreciate that Ian McCulloch may have been busy, but I'm sure they could have found someone else, or even had got Gruff to do it instead of Let Robeson Sing? Before You Love Us James announced that they'd released it twice but that they'd be playing the "slicker" version without the extended ending, which is a travesty as that ending is the best part of the song. They did precede it with something unrecognisable which may have been a homage to it, but I just couldn't tell.
My camera then emerged again for the wonderful Suicide Is Painless (Theme From MASH) which featured a triforce on the video screen for some reason and just as before it was considerably slowed down. The highlight of the entire evening then followed as Nicky explained about Richey bringing him this weird lyric which I quickly understood to mean Revol was approaching and got my camera out again and recorded every glorious second of it. It was a genuinely thrilling moment as, despite their previously stated distaste for the tune, the band threw themselves into it and even drew out the ending for an extended audience clap along. Also they'd gone to great efforts to put together a full light show plus video for it including many of the lyrics flashing up and the word "Revol" revolving to demonstrate that it's "lover" spelled backwards. James also said something towards the end which I couldn't make out except for the phrase "this fucking song", which I presume was a shout-out to those who'd been heckling the band to play it over the years and were now seeing their dream coming true. It was an utterly glorious moment and Nicky even joked later that he'd done his back in playing it, so I wonder if the fantastic reception it received could persuade the band to keep it in the set where it belongs? Another overlooked classic followed with The Love Of Richard Nixon, which predictably featured a video laden with shots of the former president but reminded us all that it didn't come close to becoming their third number one hit for nothing. Ocean Spray followed and it included a trumpet solo at the outset before The Masses Against The Classes was delivered with as much passion as you'd expect to hear. My camera then re-emerged to document the glorious ending of Roses In The Hospital which is arguably the musical highlight of the Manics whole career. I'm very pleased to note that it hadn't been edited down on the new greatest hits album and it sounded ideally suited to a stadium with an epic guitar solo towards the end. This was followed by the divisive So Why So Sad where James proclaimed that he still didn't know if we liked it or not. In fact I'm still not sure myself, but it's either totally brilliant or a guilty pleasure that would have worked beautifully as a Christmas single.
Postcards From A Young Man passed by unnoticed before Nina Persson was introduced to duet on Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, although I always think the bit where Nicky joins in as well overshadows the whole song, as well as the utterly superior follow-up single called Autumnsong. In fact I'd figured out by this point exactly which songs were left to play and even correctly predicted the order of the final four numbers thus was ready to film Slash 'N' Burn in its entirety. As it's the first track on the first album I'll always be an admirer and the band did make the most of it, but I'm still unsure whether it's a brilliant classic or a b-side that never should have left the comfort of Generation Terrorists? Meanwhile I've never been too fussed about Tsunami but was ready for the unspeakably exciting Motown Junk, even if the band failed to do the Baby Love introduction and the proper ending which are essential elements of the song. I'm sure a lot of people don't know it but it always goes down an absolute storm and got everybody going crazy, realising that the end was upon us. Nicky gave a massive shout-out to James for incredibly remembering all those words and Sean also received quite a hand for tirelessly pounding away at the back. With a show as long as this one there is always the thought that something may happen to cut it short, but they'd made it to the end despite going at it full pelt throughout. After a shout-out to Richey and to the guest slots from Gruff and Nina the band predictably finished with A Design For Life which was accompanied by a ticker-tape parade for those in the stalls which had no effect on us from our high vantage point. In fact the show had finished at pretty much 11pm exactly which was fantastic timing as the O2 Arena would probably have no qualms about cutting off a band if they went even slightly over the 11pm curfew judging by all the rules they were advertising (if seemingly not enforcing) from outside. We combined a standing ovation with putting our coats on and were reminded that standing up for the show was not only unnecessary from our excellent position but may have been dangerous with so far to fall and so steep a slope! A few people had stood for A Design For Life but we saw no need and I don't think I've ever enjoyed sitting down throughout a concert so much as I'd done on this night.
A few seconds after the drum solo of the finale though we were already dashing for the stairs and making our way out, but as our exit was at the very back of the Dome and we had to walk all the way around we were hardly the first to leave. Apparently Nicky trashed his guitar at the climax, but we were much too keen to get outside to be aware of any such things. There was quite a queue at North Greenwich and it was pretty dumb of them to not open the ticket barriers but once we got through it was fine and we even got on the second tube which was pretty amazing, and we would even have got seats if we hadn't made the mistake of being polite and not pushing! It was a very quick journey back - so much easier than it had been for The Flaming Lips from Alexandra Palace - but I was very thirsty and stopped off at McDonalds to grab a three Chicken Selects meal plus a large drink to make up for the fact we hadn't eaten since 4pm. The next day I scribbled some review notes and then headed home, knowing I had three more days more work before breaking up for Christmas. Probably unsurprisingly there had been no extra tracks but the show had clearly been advertised as "no reunions, no comebacks, no encores" and after 38 singles it would have been insane to have expected more. Nevertheless, I must repeat that Suicide Alley would have been especially welcome since it never should have been left off the album in the first place, plus Jackie Collins Existential Question Time would have rounded it up to a nice forty songs! One of my motivations in attending was the idea that this could be the last gig that the Manics ever do, with Postcards From A Young Man proclaimed as their "last shot as mass communication" by the band and a tenth album would definitely be a fitting place to stop. However James said at the end he'd probably see us in a couple of years and the previous quotes from the band basically said that they wanted to take a break before launching into a "third great phase" of their career. I find it very difficult to see where they can go from here and think they should perhaps grasp the opportunity to split up on an absolute high after a run of three excellent albums, in particular Journal For Plague Lovers, a second Greatest Hits compilation and a definitive live show. I've rewarded it 9/10 which is more than I thought they could ever be capable of. Perhaps most importantly though, I'd quite like to say I was at their last ever show!
Mark: 9.0/10
Manic Street Preachers
Where
London The O2 Arena
When
17th December 2011
Price
£22.50
Who with
Matt, Carley
Position
Seated, towards the back
Comments
I didn't even realise beforehand but I'd chosen the Manic Street Preachers for the landmark of my 150th gig! It was ideal timing as I'd decided long in advance that I wanted to visit the Da Vinci exhibition in London thus hoped to combine it with a suitably exciting live performance on a convenient Saturday. When this tour was announced I knew it was the only option as it was perfectly timed a week before Christmas and presented a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the band perform all of their singles. It also was a great excuse to revisit the Millennium Dome but because the day itself was so jam-packed we didn't have chance beforehand to explore the area. I've read somewhere that you can climb to the roof and I'd certainly love to give that a go, and I still need to visit the Cutty Sark, which rudely was burnt down before I had a chance to do so and had yet to reopen! In fact after the reasonably definitive Manics performance in Lincoln - which itself had included a whopping 19 of the 38 singles without the band even trying to play them all - I'd fully expected that I'd never be seeing them again, but instead I made it for a fifth time. We got tickets reasonably early but were restricted to the seats towards the back, yet quite liked the idea of being very high up and having a panoramic view of the arena, not to mention having a seat to help us survive such a long performance. In fact the seats were so high up that we were warned that they weren't suitable for anyone who suffers from vertigo! I heard through all the singles a couple of times plus watched my video compilation which came out with Forever Delayed. As my brother was buying me the new greatest hits album itself for Christmas I had to make do without, but I did obtain an acoustic version of This Is The Day to ensure my preparations were suitably thorough. I do feel that Suicide Alley, seeing as it's their debut single, shouldn't have been left off though, or indeed Jackie Collins Existential Question Time.
Setlist
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
Love's Sweet Exile
Motorcycle Emptiness
(It's Not War) Just The End Of Love
Everything Must Go
She Is Suffering
From Despair To Where
Autumnsong
Empty Souls
Let Robeson Sing
Faster
Life Becoming A Landslide
Kevin Carter
Little Baby Nothing
This Is The Day
The Everlasting
Indian Summer
Stay Beautiful
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Australia
La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)
Found That Soul
There By The Grace Of God
Some Kind Of Nothingness
You Love Us
Suicide Is Painless (Theme From MASH)
Revol
The Love Of Richard Nixon
Ocean Spray
The Masses Against The Classes
Roses In The Hospital
So Why So Sad
Postcards From A Young Man
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
Slash 'N' Burn
Tsunami
Motown Junk
A Design For Life
