Who
Manic Street Preachers
Support
Pretty Vicious
Where
Cardiff Castle
When
5th June 2015
Price
£37.50
Who with
No-one
Position
Towards the front
Comments
Whoever would have guessed that 2015 would kick off with a recreation of my first two gigs ever - Super Furry Animals and Manic Street Preachers? It says a lot that despite my continual search for and discovery of more music to enjoy that I started off my musical journey way back in the mid-1990s with good taste and a love of bands who are worth seeing time and time again. Perhaps I should qualify this by the fact that my third and fourth gigs were Catatonia and Stereophonics - who are not so hot - but back in the day they were exciting prospects, and I can't be held responsible if some of my favourite bands jumped the shark can I? This was the sixth time I'd seen the Manics and I certainly wasn't intending this. My three times around the millennium had seemed quite sufficient, but MSP have a tendency to play intriguing shows in places I want to visit, which keeps me coming back for more. Combining a visit to Lincoln with the Manics in 2010 was a masterstroke, and I couldn't possibly resist a Saturday night one-off gig at the Millennium Dome where the band promised to play all 38 of their singles could I? For reasons now forgotten I missed out on watching the Journal For Plague Lovers tour in Wolverhampton, but seeing The Holy Bible played in full in the surrounds of Cardiff Castle was certainly unmissable! I booked tickets straight away six months or so in advance, relishing the chance to go back to Cardiff and to explore the city properly, as the last time I went for Status Quo in 2008 it was before I realised the importance of taking photos of everything. I could have just seen MSP on the same tour in Wolves but that wasn't as compelling, and despite the uncertainty of not knowing where I may be living or working by the time the show came around I figured that I would be foolish to miss out.

The band sold out all 10,000 tickets pretty much straight away and it was the first time that the Manics had played Cardiff Castle. Looking into it it seems that the castle has staged relatively few gigs over the years and most of them were from quite safe middle of the road acts, namely Paul Weller, Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard, Bryan Adams and The Searchers, and two shows from the Stereophonics, including one that came out on video. As far as I can determine this was only my second ever "official" gig outside England, following from the aforementioned Status Quo in the same city back in 2008. I don't count hearing AC/DC from outside a stadium in Adelaide or some small/local acts I see along the way. I had strongly considered seeing Macca live in Tokyo but was put off by how difficult it was to get tickets for anyone outside Japan, and I decided it wasn't worth my while when I realised that it was a seated concert and could only be an anti-climax to the brilliant two outdoor shows I'd seen him play before. Although I thought I was fairly quick off the mark onto Expedia, Cardiff was already completely sold out of hotel rooms, so I took the gamble of staying in Barry on the night itself and hoping that the late night train would actually get me back and that I wouldn't have to fork out on an extortionate taxi fare. As I was busy travelling and enjoying myself I didn't have time to listen to the Manics before the show at all, and the month since seeing SFA live had whizzed by in a haze of sorting out holiday photos and making my first tentative moves to hunt for a new job. I decided to stay Thursday night as well to give me ample time to explore the city and fortunately, apart from receiving one job phone call while I was there, attending this show didn't interfere with anything else, and it officially extended my overall holiday into June and to my 20th country!

Speaking of 20, as I was already the owner of the 10th anniversary reissue of The Holy Bible I didn't see much point in buying the 20th anniversary edition, although it's surprising that the US Mix of the album is so awesome that I now listen to it in place of the original record at all times. I got the first off-peak train I could and headed straight to Cardiff, venturing to The Big Sleep Hotel, which I'd spent plenty of time in in Cheltenham Spa so I was keen for a visit to another in the same chain. For convenience I was spending the first night in Cardiff before moving over to Barry. The bastards wouldn't let me check in though, even though it was 1pm and all the rooms had supposedly been vacated at 10:30am. So I had to leave my bag and head out into the city with little preparation, being fortunate that Cardiff is so compact and navigable that I managed to see so much of it in just four hours. In sharp contrast to the continuity of my good music taste, talentless shitheads One Direction supported by McBusted were playing the first of two nights at the Millennium Stadium on the very same day as MSP, which is deeply depressing when you consider that the Manics are a Welsh band but were playing to a fraction of the audience. Even when you take into account that the Manics could probably have sold out Cardiff Castle several times over - especially if they were doing it on a greatest hits basis with a strong support band - it makes you wonder what is wrong with the world. I compare this to my taste as I just don't believe that these ignorant kids will care about One Direction in 17 years time, or indeed that the band would be together and performing come 2032, whereas here I was seeing the Manics after 17 years, playing an album 21 years after its release to an enthusiastic sell-out crowd! The flipside I guess is that if the young did all like good music then my shows would sell out immediately and be full of kids, but nevertheless I believe people are far too passive about protesting against shit music. The Manics didn't even mention the other show, but just ignoring the existence of crap doesn't make it go away!

Also as far as I can tell the One Direction date was announced after the Manics show, in which case a stadium show was confirmed in a city that had already sold out every single one of its hotel rooms, which is a bit mad! Also Nicky Wire mentioned in an interview that Brian Wilson was also in town playing Cardiff Arena on the Thursday night, meaning that this was certainly a notable weekend for anyone who was lucky enough to find somewhere to stay in the area! But anyway, I spent my day constructively exploring Cardiff rather than going around lecturing One Direction fans for having no taste, hoping that the onset of puberty will ultimately reveal that fact to them! I went inside the Metropolitan Cathedral, which was nothing compared to the stunning setting of Llandaff Cathedral, then wandered into the Cardiff Story Museum for free. Similarly Cardiff Museum was free, although an arbitrary restriction on taking photos in some of the best rooms ruined my visit. They had a big sign outside saying that photos are permitted except in extraordinary cases, but photo Nazi-ism and copyright law being used to justify the inexcusable is something that I have zero respect for. It was probably thanks to this annoyance that I managed to lose the piece of paper contained all my notes for what to see and do this weekend, but I ventured on, thankfully being able to see and photograph most of the city for free over the next couple of days. I'd assumed too that Cardiff Castle were photo Nazis as I hadn't taken any indoor pics in 2008 and found that it was shutting early two days in a row so I didn't go in. However I could hear the Manics were soundchecking inside, blasting through Europa Geht Durch Mich which sadly didn't make the final setlist. I then rounded out my circuit of Cardiff by walking past the Millennium Stadium and making a pilgrimage to the legendary Brains Bridge of Fuzzy Logic fame.

I was now able to finally check into my hotel and get changed, feeling comfortable enough about what I'd seen so far to break off the sightseeing and engage in a mini pub crawl of the centre. I went into the Brains pub near St John's Church - which I'd popped into earlier and noted it trumped the city's cathedral - for a pint of Brains and also a bottle of Barry Island IPA. Both beers disappointed, making me wonder why I ever liked Brains in the first place. Has the brewing quality gone downhill, or has my palate developed to the point where nearly everything tastes like shit? One pub which couldn't disappoint though was the nearby Brewdog, which I made a special effort to visit knowing how good the one in Birmingham is. After just one drink there I ventured to Wetherspoons for a large curry meal deal, and had perhaps the surprise of the weekend in discovering that my pint of Brahma tasted awful! Was it because it was a poor quality brew on tap, or had my earlier Brewdog beer made it seem crap by comparison? Who knows, but the reason I favour bottled beers is that the quality is much more consistent, and bottles are so pretty to look at! I was fully aware that sunset wasn't until 9:30pm, which was why I had so much time to kill before heading over to Cardiff Bay for late evening and sunset. I wandered past the Millennium Centre, Pierhead Building and Norwegian Church before heading back into the city centre, although strangely everywhere was very poorly illuminated. The cathedral in fact was in complete darkness! I could have continued drinking but thought that I'd had a good day and should now call it a night, waking up the next morning to a horribly disappointing continental breakfast where I could eat nothing except slices of cheese!

I ingested some extra energy from a Boots meal deal and certainly needed it as I'd be lugging my bag around for the day. I'd done a really good job of exploring Wales in the past, even enjoying a fantastic day in 2011 doing nearly everything around Cardiff, taking in Castell Coch, Llandaff Cathedral and St Fagan's National History Museum. Now to complete the area I took a train to Penarth to visit the pretty pier, before walking back to Cardiff Bay, which was a surprisingly easy achievement considering it was a 20 minute train journey out to Penarth in the first place. Even though I disowned the show in 2010 due to its dull scripts and the cheap way it's physically shot, I still appreciate the power of the characters and costumes/design so I splurged on the £16 admission fee for the Dr Who Exhibition. After a live interactive show where I couldn't take photos so it served no purpose I reached a few rooms crammed with awesome props and monster costumes, which were very simply displayed. I'd seen an earlier incarnation of this exhibition back in 2008 but Dr Who is a very big deal for BBC Wales so they'd relocated to these larger premises. I followed this up with a brief visit to the Norwegian Church - where I purchased a bag of crisps I didn't want to gain entry to the interior - and then the Parliament building, which I was pleasantly surprised to be allowed inside with my huge backpack, although they did temporarily confiscate my scissors. My pre-gig tour of the city finished with a wander inside the Pierhead Building, by this point making me wonder how I'd managed to see so little the last time around. Or perhaps I'd simply forgotten everything by taking so few photos? Either way, I had learned my lesson and made up for it on this trip!

I caught the train to Barry, quickly locating and checking into my hotel, before getting changed and heading back out to Cardiff again for dinner. I'd wrongly assumed that I could just wander into Wetherspoons but it was rammed full of pre-gig punters, on top of the usual Friday night drinking crowd. When you also take into account that some One Direction fans were attending with their unfortunate parents it meant that getting a table was next to impossible. Fortunately though the Brains pub from the day before was relatively quiet, and I enjoyed Welsh faggots and chips with some unwanted peas, washed down with two more disappointing pints of Brains. I rounded off this gluttony with some cheese and biscuits, but I did need to have enough energy to last me through the show! Gates had opened at 5pm but I arrived an hour after this, having no problem smuggling my bottle of water in, despite being ready for an argument if they dared try to take it away from me. To reward them for not being over-zealous and also for the fact that the stalls looked quite interesting and not too over-priced I got a couple of scoops of ice cream, although I had no interest in the t-shirts which were selling for £20, and were even a rip-off £10 from the touts outside. The most notable top had "who's responsible?" on the front and "you fucking are" on the back, but it makes no sense outside the context of a Manics gig, especially as most passers-by would be too busy being offended by it to read both sides and recognise it as a quote. Apart from a few spots of rain and wind in Cardiff Bay it was mostly a sunny day and an ideal temperature to wander around, and as at this point I had no intention of revisiting the castle I took a good few photos, trying to block out the metal fences as far as possible from my shots.

The stage was to the right and the area didn't appear large enough for 10,000 people, but it seemed like the arena was a good size and contrast between intimacy and a grand scale. If anything this was one of the few shows where I could have benefited from standing further back so I could soak up the setting more rather than just be staring at a nondescript stage that could be anywhere. There was a shitty bar selling Carling, and in fact it seemed just about everywhere in the city was serving drinks in plastic cups because of the gigs. I'd heard that Huw Stephens was there but I couldn't see him in the DJ booth on the right, so was pleased when he made his one and only appearance of the night to introduce Pretty Vicious to the stage, who were a Welsh four-piece band from Merthyr Tydfil. I'd expected obnoxious Manics-lite punks so was pleasantly surprised that they weren't annoying, in fact coming across much more like early Arctic Monkeys. They certainly looked and sounded similar, but I couldn't make out enough lyrics to confirm if they also shared the same penchant for singing about chip shops and so forth! Their name was on their drum kit and they projected a very casual air that served them well, only breaking the cool at the end of the set as the drummer took a moment to photograph the crowd with his tablet. They went down well with the crowd too and were fun to listen to, breaking them into the top tier of support acts who aren't a complete waste of time. Notably the singer's guitar broke halfway through a song so he swapped it and carried on singing throughout, and a few of the tunes stood out too. Although I'd had still preferred a "big name" support act befitting of such a large show it could have been a lot worse. For example, at about the same time as this the Millennium Stadium were enduring McBusted!

There were some people watching from the side of the stage who looked fairly familiar but I couldn't name them - including someone who looked a bit like Paul Weller - making me wonder if I've spotted them at previous Welsh band gigs? As the stage was so high up the photographers were up there next to the band and chatting with these possible celebrities, and unusually a film crew were recording the whole Pretty Vicious set but it wasn't projected onto the side screens! The pressure was on the Manics as BBC Wales were filming and televising the concert as one of several shows across the UK that weekend, something which hadn't initially been planned when the castle was booked. The build-up to the Manics passed quite nicely as the crowd filled up slowly, and there were no negative consequences of my arriving an hour late as it was easy at first to wander in and out, although naturally some twats continued to push in well after the place was rammed. Although the Manics are an intelligent band, they do still attract their fair share of knobheads. The DJing was good too, with tunes such as God Save The Queen, Blue Monday, I Wanna Be Sedated, Men's Needs and Y Brawd Houdini entertaining the crowd. It is no coincidence that whenever a DJ seemingly raids my record collection that the crowd all love it! The stage was set up as usual with two Welsh flags and I noted that James's equipment was further to the left, in the spot where Richey used to be. In the old days they'd very deliberately left this spot empty, and over many years gradually had encroached into it. The stage was already covered in camouflage and a few of the diehard fans down the front were wearing full-on military costumes, but I was quite happy keeping it simple in my Vietnam/Apocalypse Now t-shirt. I had a great central position but gradually edged back and to the right, knowing that the people in front of me were not only twats, but also had very big heads that would only serve to block my view!

The stage was now set and Huw Stephens expertly decided that The Man Don't Give A Fuck would be a great choice of song before the Manic Street Preachers took to the stage! The crowd didn't go as crazy as they could have done, which is unusual, and this was a pattern of the whole show. Perhaps given the passage of time it's inevitable that the fans will chill out a bit, and combined with the relatively sedate setting of Cardiff Castle and a promise to play an intelligent album that doesn't appeal to the average lager moron I guess I can understand it, although it's a surprise as this should have been a huge event gig, but in reality SFA in Manchester had garnered a stronger reception, and in front of a non-local crowd too! The Chemical Brothers remix of Faster started up accompanied by a bit of smoke, before the Manics appeared in such an understated fashion that we barely noticed their arrival, Sean wore the classic Holy Bible beret whereas James and Nicky were smart-casual by comparison. There was a Jesus image from The Holy Bible album era on the drum kit and the side screens were now activated, although I was a little too far forward to either need them or comfortably be able to take them in. The night started as it continued with the spoken-word intro to Yes, and the template for the evening was set. Namely that this would be a chronological and quite faithful rendition of the album, with the main difference being that James would skip out some lyrics, such as "I hurt myself to get pain out". I think this was all done very strategically, both to allow crowd participation and also for the band to distance themselves from some of the words they'd rather not sing, and perhaps most importantly to make it physically possible for James to sing so many words!

Thatcher got a much-deserved boo during the intro of Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart, and I shot a short and fuzzy video capturing the crowd singing along, before a second video which was slightly less of a blur. There was an early shout-out to Richey, which was repeated later on, and it received probably the largest cheer of the night, and it was well-deserved as The Holy Bible would never have happened without his lyrical input and inspiration. Nicky acknowledged the occasion by pointing out how exposed it was for just the three of them to be up there playing such a grim album. James made us laugh by observing that this certainly wasn't a Summer Series concert, and anyone who'd expected a picnic and deckchairs was likely to be disappointed, although the second half would be "all dancing and shit"! With so much going on musically and lyrically it's hard to pick out individual moments, but I shot another video during She Is Suffering and it was amusing how some idiot was punching the air with glee to its chorus. It's not the tune for that at all, although it had been one of the pleasant surprises of the brilliant singles night at the Millennium Dome, but tonight it was over-shadowed by the mightier company of the rest of its mother album. Archives Of Pain was notable as James messed up the guitar solo, which Nicky berated him in great depth for, which is always good as an amusing cock-up is more memorable than hearing things go according to plan. It was also glorious to see that the Manics are a band who can overcome their prejudices, now realising that Revol is a live masterpiece with an in-built hand clapping solo to boot. It was introduced by James saying "some call it lover but we call it Revol!" and I'm thrilled to note that the rapturous reception it received when they grudgingly played it in London seems to have now led to a genuine love and appreciation for this classic song.

Despite being a grim album there was plenty of opportunity to mosh to The Holy Bible, but I gradually edged my way backwards away from the relatively small pit, sticking to my much-promised moshpit retirement plan for at least the time being. This was a sharp contrast to MSP opening their Stoke show in 1998 with If You Tolerate This and seemingly the whole crowd moshing to the mid-tempo tune. The crowd seemed appreciative but just didn't show the levels of excitement that I expected, although there were one or two crowd surfers. I shot another video for 4st 7lb with some truly shoddy camera work with lots of heads in the way and my lens pointing away from the band due to lack of attention, but my refusal to inconsiderately hold my camera over my head or watch the whole show through its lens does make it harder sometimes! I've heard Faster live several times before so it was much overshadowed by the b-sides I never thought I'd get to hear live, such as Die In The Summertime. It's a deeply challenging and uncommercial song lyrically but instrumentally it's brilliant, with great guitars and accompanied by an impressive lightshow. I shot my fifth video during it and by now was looking forward to the excellent last two tracks on the album. The Intense Humming Of Evil was awesome due to being such a brave and uncompromising song to have to play live, and it even succeeded in over-shadowing P.C.P., which was completely unexpected as that is a Manics song I feel like I've spent my whole life waiting to hear live. P.C.P. just wasn't quite as fast or as crazy as I'd expected though, and the atmosphere of the crowd was better suited to appreciating the music rather than going crazy to the loud songs. James promised they'd be back in 10 minutes, and the performance of The Holy Bible was now complete.

The sunset was late and it took a very long time to fully get dark but, in the absence of a band to shoot, the crowd followed my lead in turning around and trying to take some photos of the castle. The camouflage was partially taken down to reveal a video screen had been behind the band all this time, and it was tested with a video of Europa Geht Durch Mich, which had been part of the soundcheck and this made it even more surprising when it wasn't played in the set! Like most of the crowd I'd come to hear The Holy Bible and knew that cramming in all the hits was impossible, so I hadn't set my heart too much on hearing any tunes in particular. However, I'm not quite sure who they were trying to appeal to when James returned along with a string quartet to play a very quiet rendition of The Everlasting. The band used to hate this song and it doesn't even represent part of their 2007+ renaissance, so apart from the perversity of providing a stark contrast to The Holy Bible I don't see what it accomplished? It says something about the strength of their overall catalogue though that it still was a reasonable way to pass the time, although if they're going to be perverse why not go the whole hog and come back out to play Lifeblood in full? James joked that the string quartet were available to hire for birthdays and weddings, and it was a surprise when they left the stage after just this one song and Nicky and Sean re-emerged, Nicky looking striking in a well-decorated suit covered with artwork by some of his musical heroes. The person waving around the Welsh flag to my left inconsiderately nearly hit me in the head with it and two cups of Carling were disgustingly flung in my direction in quick succession, but although piss would have been preferable I soldiered on.

The second half wasted a little more time with Walk Me To The Bridge, although as it's a new song I can understand its inclusion, and I must accept some blame for not yet listening to their new albums as many times as I know I should have done. I had resisted doing any research into the band's setlist but had somehow caught word that they may play Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll, which is a massive ancient song that was never played live at the time, or indeed played live ever until this tour. It was one of the most exciting moments of the evening, although I wish that the band had been a little braver and held back on giving it its live debut until this night! Looking back though I'm starting to appreciate this second set a bit more for its extraordinary variety, as this was followed with If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, which seemingly has mutated into a Wake Up style Arcade Fire singalong moment! Your Love Alone Is Not Enough meanwhile has become a standard and it's shocking to consider that it was now eight years old, but that it feels like the band are still surfing the crest of a wave kicked off by its popularity. However in my opinion it requires a duet partner and when one isn't available it should be replaced with the superior Autumnsong, although I do enjoy Nicky's backing vocals right at the end. When the pre-song banter made it clear that they were about to sing another Richey lyric I certainly wasn't prepared to hear Removables, and this is the kind of vault-delving that I wanted to hear. James said Everything Must Go was from their Britpop days, before very pointedly clarifying that they hadn't been part of Britpop, but had simply happened to be there at the same time! I read that it had been debuted a few nights before in Wolverhampton - which had been its first live airing since 1997 - and I shot my sixth and final video of the night, capturing Nicky doing a cautious scissor kick.

Yes, I had read that Nicky had injured his knees performing The Holy Bible and was taking it easy, and now watching him more closely it was clear that he was having to hold back. We were now approaching the curfew though, and You Stole The Sun From My Heart was played to mixed feelings from me. It gets the crowd going but just feels too cheesy, although the lyrical sentiment is interesting and original. This mixed bag of a set then reached its nadir with Golden Platitudes, which suffered even more as we were conscious of the 10:45pm curfew and it seemed like the band were going to be ending their set on this shit b-side that would barely make a list of my top 200 Manics songs, if at all. The crowd seemed either indifferent or baffled, and this pointless song amid what should have been the energised finale of the set was the biggest misstep of the night. This is a rare gig where I'm not going to comprehensively list all of the omissions as I knew full well that this wasn't to be a greatest hits set, but there were some completely ludicrous choices in there. The band had hinted at surprises on the night but the setlist was disappointingly consistent with the few other shows of this tour, would it really have killed them to have broken out a few totally unexpected classics such as Prologue To History, Marlon J.D. or A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun, which would have served both to delight the audience and to remind us that MSP have written many classic tunes since their early Richey days? The band were introduced by James and I was surprised to learn that Nick Nasmyth was back on keyboards, as apparently he'd left them for the Spice Girls back in the 1990s. This fact received a light-hearted boo from the audience, who also saved a cheer for the other guitarist, who'd been jumping around while keeping to his confined little zone at the back of the stage which I doubt he is allowed to breach out of respect for his illustrious predecessor. I don't understand why the band would need another guitarist - as they did manage The Holy Bible half of the set perfectly well with just the three of them - but I'm not a technical expert, perhaps the new tunes do demand it?

I felt left out when James sang what I suspected correctly to be the Welsh national anthem, giving enough time for Nicky to change into perhaps the shortest skirt ever in time for the big finale. Time was getting on but thankfully 10:45pm must have been a provisional curfew only, as the guys then launched into a typically frenetic rendition of You Love Us, although I do wish they'd do the proper ending from the awesome original version! I really thought they'd be exiting on that note, but MSP now seem to regard A Design For Life as their The Man Don't Give A Fuck and didn't have the heart to leave us without playing it, indulging in an energised rendition accompanied by the traditional video footage. As I was still standing so far forwards I could barely see the fireworks that were now being let off to my left, but I could witness the limited flares that had been unleashed at the base of the castle keep. All of this however was over-shadowed by what may go down in history as the most memorable part of the night, as the band trashed their instruments, with James spending a very long time trying to destroy a guitar which was seemingly invincible. It was highly amusing, and after finally cracking it in half his parting shot was to say that it was the toughest guitar in the entire world! It was amusing and entertaining although I always feel that the destruction of instruments feels fake and forced, and that the occasion hardly demanded it.

"I know I believe in nothing but it is my nothing" was the parting message on the video screen as I made my way to the exit, stopping only to take a handful of photos of the castle as I didn't want to risk missing my train for anything. James warned us to be careful out there seeing as it was a Friday night in Cardiff, but compared to the One Direction fans I doubt that the Manics fans had much to worry about! Speaking of which I didn't hear a whisper or see any fireworks ascending from the shit fest that was happening a few hundred metres away at the Millennium Stadium, but I would imagine that they invested some money in their production and their silly fans screamed themselves so silly that the music had no relevance to their appraisal of the show. A huge organisational operation had been unveiled at Cardiff Central, with barriers and queues splitting up the crowds by destination. In fact the nearby Queen Street station I'd considered going to had been closed for the night, and I felt very lucky to see that relatively few fans were looking to go to Barry! Although the crowd control was good the communication was appalling, with the screens and the staff seemingly having no idea where the trains were going. I hope very much that this was because they were tailoring where the trains were running to meet the demand, rather than just being typical incompetence? However once I established which train to jump on I was delighted to get a seat, allowing me to scribble down some initial review notes while ignoring the foolish One Direction fans sitting next to me. I'd felt that having to travel back to Barry was the biggest risk of the evening, so to pull it off without a problem was a major triumph. I arrived back at the hotel barely an hour after leaving the gig, which was brilliant by any standard. I was surprised to note that my ears were whistling, so I guess that the show must have been louder than I'd realised!

The next day I packed up my stuff and enjoyed a full Welsh breakfast with black pudding at my hotel, before venturing out into Barry. Annoyingly I couldn't get free Wi-Fi at the hotel or find a Wetherspoons or indeed a single tourist map, which meant that I couldn't find where the castle or any Barry tourist sights were located! However I walked down to Barry Island and found it to be a depressing place, effectively a council estate on an island. Is that what Gavin And Stacy about I wonder, I don't know because I've yet to watch it! I understand it was early in the morning but the beach area seemed dead and very unlikely to come alive later. Much like Margate, this seaside location becomes a shithole because it lacks the essential presence of a pier! By this point I was sick of wandering around and felt that if the town couldn't be arsed to put up even one tourist info map that it wasn't worth my time, so I just got on the train back to Cardiff, lugging my heavy bag in tow. It's a real shame as this is a prime island location with direct train links to Cardiff, so really should be a luxurious commuter town appealing to the super-rich. Who knows, maybe in 20 years it will be. Back in Cardiff, I had a brief look at Spillers Records and Clwb Ifor Bach before making my way to Cardiff Castle. I had intended to go to the cinema but upon realising that I was free to take photos inside and outside the castle I was keen to reward them with the £19 it cost me to tour the castle, tower and some extra rooms available only on the guided tour. It may have been quite expensive but nearly every other tourist attraction in Cardiff had been free, so I couldn't complain, and I didn't want to leave without properly visiting the most famous landmark. Although it does make me scratch my head as to why I hadn't taken any indoor castle photos in 2008. Either they were reformed photo Nazi's who had changed their policy or I really had been a fool back then and didn't grasp how important photography was. Similarly, if it wasn't for all these reviews and ticket stubs I'd have nothing to remind me of all these gigs that I've attended over the years, which really makes up for my relative lack of concert photography!

I had a shock at the castle to learn that one of our tour group was an obsessive One Direction fan who'd travelled all the way from Italy to see them, which is utterly insane. She will probably look back on that with deep shame in 10 years to come, or else spend the rest of her life kidding herself that it was somehow worth it. At least in seeing a bit of Cardiff she'd accomplished at least one positive thing from the journey! They were also dismantling the MSP stage while I was there, and although my ticket had been expensive at least there was plenty at the castle to fill many hours of top quality sightseeing. Before departing I followed a friend's recommendation in visiting Dorothy's Fish Bar, enjoying chicken curry with chips and missing my fast train home by two minutes as a result. Fortunately though I was in no desperate hurry to get back, and was impressed by how pretty Newport looked from the train line. After getting back to Wolves via Bristol Parkway I ate my messiest Subway ever - Meatball Marinara - at the bus stop then hung around with friends until getting my last train home. I have heard tantalising hints of the Manics contemplating an Everything Must Go tour, and I think that would be a great idea, but after that they really need to come up with an astonishing album, as otherwise they'll cross that line forever into being a heritage act. Perhaps one final, brilliant album and a farewell show either at the Millennium Stadium or a suitably large field near Cardiff would be an extraordinary way for the guys to bring the curtain down on their career? Get SFA to support, Kylie Minogue and Nina Persson to guest and throw in a few surprises over a three hour marathon set and it would be amazing. But who knows, I certainly don't feel I need to see the Manic Street Preachers live again, yet they have such a tendency to play memorable "event" shows like this that I may find myself pulled back for more regardless!
Setlist
Faster (Chemical Brothers Remix)
Yes
Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart
Of Walking Abortion
She Is Suffering
Archives Of Pain
Revol
4st 7lb
Mausoleum
Faster
This Is Yesterday
Die In The Summertime
The Intense Humming Of Evil
P.C.P.
The Everlasting
Motorcycle Emptiness
Walk Me To The Bridge
Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Sex, Power, Love And Money
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
Removables
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
Golden Platitudes
Welsh National Anthem [Snippet]
You Love Us
A Design For Life

Mark: 8.5/10