Two fantastic gigs to launch a new Manics era.

The Manic Street Preachers have been my favourite band for more than three decades, and still, nothing quite compares to the thrill of the dawning of a new Manics era. This time round, for their 15th album “Critical Thinking”, the lead up had been a long one. It had begun nearly six months previously in August 2024 with the release of infectious lead single “Decline and Fall”, followed on the 25th of October by “Hiding In Plain Sight”, the very first Manics single to feature Nicky Wire on vocals.

The 25th of October 2024 was a significant day for me, and not just because of the release of a landmark Manics single: it was the day I was offered a new job. I would be returning to the NHS workplace I’d left two and a half years previously (and celebrated doing so by catching Covid at a Kosheen gig), and I was excited at the prospect of returning to a workplace full of old friends and happy memories. However, due to the endless convolutions and frustrations of HR shenanigans, my departure from my then-current job was delayed by some months. Finally I said my goodbyes on the very day before these gigs happened, and so I too was on the cusp of a new era as I headed out to Kingston this chilly Saturday evening. I was absolutely ready to celebrate once again, and this time with the best band in the world (though hopefully without catching Covid).

This was my second experience of back-to-back Manics gigs at PRYZM. In 2021, in the lead up to their previous album “The Ultra Vivid Lament”, we’d had a double gig experience featuring a Q&A with Nicky and an acoustic set from James, but this time we’d be treated to full band shows. It was my first time seeing the band since their Bath gig in 2023 and I was more than ready to experience their brilliance live again. From my diary:

‘Shivering in the queue at 4pm, in at 4.30, Manics at 5.30, out in the cold again at 6.30, back in at 7, Manics at 8, all over by 9pm. A lot of standing about waiting, but those two hours of the Manics, well, they were everything.’

At the time of these gigs, “Critical Thinking” was still two weeks from being released, having been delayed from its original release date of the 31st January. I had wondered whether the band might do a complete run through of the new album, giving us all a sneak preview, but when the first gig commenced at 5.30pm, we were launched back into the 90s with “Enola Alone”. Soon however we were into the new songs, and of these, “Decline and Fall ” came across the best. I described it in my diary as ‘a jolt to the soul, insanely infectious’. The song I’d most been looking forward to was the aforementioned debut for Nicky as a single lead vocal, the heartwarming and uplifting “Hiding In Plain Sight”, but it came across a little timid and undercooked on this night, with Nicky ruefully complaining that he would have to sing it twice in one evening. We also had the live debut of “People Ruin Paintings”, which had been released a few weeks earlier, a pleasant, jauntily melodic tune.

One thing not mentioned by the band, but undoubtedly on everyone’s minds, was that the date of these gigs marked exactly 30 years since the disappearance of Richey Edwards. Perhaps this is why a couple of lesser-heard songs from the albums most associated with him, “The Holy Bible” and “Journal For Plague Lovers”, were included in the setlist. “She Is Suffering” was a particular highlight, darkly brooding, evoking the former “Bible” addict in me. While “Journal” never had quite the same impact on me, the inclusion of “Peeled Apples” for the first time in well over a decade was a breath of fresh air.

I noticed during this first gig there were some surprisingly youthful faces in the crowd. Most notably there was a fan near me who looked about 14 years old yet was completely done up in Richey gear, complete with a leopard print coat and eyeliner, as though he’d stepped straight out of a Manics gig crowd circa 1992. Naturally he went wild at the Richey tunes, and it was delightful to see such enthusiasm in one so young that he probably wasn’t even born when “Journal for Plague Lovers” came out, let alone “The Holy Bible”. It seems that the allure of vintage Manics has infiltrated the TikTok generation at last.

With such youthful energy in the venue, the crowd were in true revelling spirit, making every song a highlight. I recorded that “La Tristesse Durera” and “A Design For Life” were ‘true wonders, distillations of joy’ and “Motown Junk” ‘a pogoing monster’. The gig closed with “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next”, as at the Bath Forum in 2023. While it’s a worthy usurper of “Design” as Manics gig closer, it did feel a bit odd to be leaving a Manics gig without the ritual hollering of “this! is! the end!” in its final minutes.

The second gig was a little bit more stoic and middle aged of crowd, and took a few songs to ignite. For the new songs, we had the live debut for the bright and buoyant “Brushstrokes of Reunion”, which had been released the day before, presumably to make up for the extra wait we were having to endure to hear the whole album. We also heard “Dear Stephen” for the very first time, though I must admit sounded it somewhat dreary to me on first listen, and has remained my least favourite track on “Critical Thinking”.

Once the crowd had warmed up a bit, this show was every bit the matinee’s equal, especially after “La Tristesse Durera”, which was rejigged to allow for an enthusiastic singalong of the first verse. “You Stole The Sun From My Heart” was euphoric as ever, and Nicky seemed a little more confident when it came time to play “Hiding In Plain Sight”. And while the aforementioned “Dear Stephen” may have dampened the mood momentarily, we were soon blasted back into Manic mania with a snippet of “Welcome To The Jungle” preceding “Motown Junk”, and of course the almighty “Tolerate” to finish.

I left Kingston this evening on a high. I was starting my new job an a few days, and was looking forward to a new chapter in my life, with my favourite band in the world back and in incredible form. And, as it turned out, I had one of my best ever years as a Manics fan ahead of me.