A Night with the Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers / Razorlight - 12.09.04 @ Wembley Arena

There’s a fine line in the music world between those who choose to grow old gracefully and those who somehow end up embarrassing themselves more and more with each encroaching decade (see the Stones, Iron Maiden). The Manic Street Preachers largely fit the initial category - but why is that seven studio albums, a greatest hits collection and a rarities compilation into their career they still remain reasonably relevant, can pack out arenas and attract one of the most obsessive fan bases you’re like to come across?  Well, one of the reasons could be the fact that with each album they musically reinvent themselves, - from the raucous, inflammatory punk of Generation Terrorists, the nihilistic, uncomfortably honest masterpiece The Holy Bible to the polished Spector-ish production exhibited on Everything Must Go and the lush soundscapes more akin to the likes of New Order and Goldfrapp that swamp new LP Lifeblood, the Manics never fail to surprise their loyal followers.

I think it’s fair to say, Razorlight are swallowed up by the enormity of the charmless arena. Coming across more as a student band in the shadow of the Manics, tracks such as “Don’t Go Back To Dalston” and “Rip It Up” which usually sound frantic and urgent come across as tired and turgid and it’s only tracks such as “Stumble & Fall” and the irrepressible “Golden Touch” that give them a degree of redemption. With two dates booked at London’s Ally Pally, playing to over 22,000, it remains to be seen whether or not Razorlight can make the complete transition from playing the sweatboxes of East London they were used to a year ago, to the enormodromes where they looked so uncomfortable tonight.

The Manics are essentially doing two jobs tonight; one is to promote the reissued, repackaged tenth anniversary edition of The Holy Bible, the other is to promote the brand new Lifeblood album, which the band have coincidentally described as being “The Holy Bible for 35 year olds.” Rather aptly tracks lifted from both of these go down equally well, from the expansive, elegiac melodies of tracks such as “Solitude Sometimes Is” and “I Live To Fall Asleep” to the jagged, acerbic punkoids, namely “Yes” and “Faster.”

Although they may have toned themselves down in recent years in terms of their outspokenness, the band (featuring a second guitarist for the first time since iconic original member Richey Edwards’ disappearance) still pogo and scissor-kick their way around the stage as if they were twenty again and just necked a shedload of amphetamines. Tracks such as “You Stole The Sun From My Heart” and “Motown Junk” still sound mighty and majestic, the extra guitarist giving them extra beef, whilst a fully-plugged in version of “This Is Yesterday” (as opposed to the usual live acoustic rendition) is both poignant and beguiling. 

As the closing fanfare of “Motorcycle Emptiness” and “A Design For Life” rings out, steam rising from the mosh pit, the Blackwood trio show that there’s a great deal of life in them yet, and once again prove their critics who have been writing them off wrong; the Manic Street Preachers are far from being dead and buried.