Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible Anniversary Tour - Manchester 10/12/14

Manic Street Preachers

The Holy Bible Anniversary Tour

Manchester Albert Hall

10/12/14

 

 

This was my last gig of the year and I had no doubt it'd be an awesome one. The weather had been quite kind to us in every queue this year, until this one! We got in the queue of about 15 people at around 4pm, doors were at 7pm. It was so cold and started to rain on and off. I kept looking at the time but it didn't seem to be getting any closer to 7 so I just stopped looking. At around half 5 we went to a nearby subway and got a hot drink each to warm up and a girl we'd been talking to in the queue was kind enough to save our spot.

 

 

We got back in the queue. Security came out and moved us to the other side of the door.. only to put barriers up for the queue to be in order and then moved us back over. I think all of us were quite glad of the movement because it was so cold. I continued to talk to the girl in front of us to pass the time. She was by herself and from Australia so was quite interesting. I had it confirmed that Australia is Manic Street Preachers most famous song over there. Always had wondered about that!

 

 

Finally it reached 7, doors opened about 5 past so not too bad. I actually couldn't feel my feet so was worried about trying to run up the stairs to get into the main hall. I was fine and managed to get on barrier without tripping over. That's an achievement right there!

 

 

We were in, we were on barrier now all we had to do was wait for the Manics to hit the stage. There was no support tonight just music picked by a DJ who has been a friend of the band for years. Most of the stuff played wasn't really my taste and I thought it didn't have much.....umph. It didn't take away the buzz of excitement I had though.

 

 

The Manic Street Preachers came on stage about 8.45 and started 1 of 2 sets. The first set was The Holy Bible in full. They played this whole set as a three piece band. The album is such a good bit of music and one of those classic albums that you can just listen to over and over. To get a chance to hear it live on the year of the 20th anniversary was amazing. There are some insane guitar solos on The Holy Bible, I was in awe of James Dean Bradfield when he went into them. The guy is one of my guitar heroes and a very underrated guitarist.

 

 

I think PCP and Archives Of Pain were the highlights from that set. They are two of my favourite Manics songs, especially PCP. The crowd went crazier than they already had been. Nicky said there'd be a short 15 minute break before the next set, which we all knew about anyways. Everyone was just buzzing from the first hour of the concert.

 

 

Hits, Curios and Futurology to finish the night, beginning this 11 song set with fan fave Motorcycle Emptiness. They played a mix of classics, b sides and new material off their latest release Futurology. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough  was followed by another of my favourites If You Tolerate This (Your Children Will Be Next). I found myself watching the 2nd guitarist a bit more during this song as he was playing the rhythm part on the guitar which I've learnt myself. Walk Me To The Bridge was next a song I didn't really expect in the set, I expected to hear Europa Geht Derch Mich instead. It was really amazing live to be fair, I didn't think it'd make a good live song, Manic Street Preachers you proved me wrong! Divine Youth up next, Nicky took lead vocals for this one as most of the studio version isn't sang by James but sang by Georgia Ruth who obviously wasn't there for the one song. When that song finished James proceeded to say ''Do you love us?'' the crowd replied with an almighty rawr as we knew what song was next... You Love Us of course. The set and night finished with Design For Life. Absolute classic. Half way through the song James moved his microphone stand to right in front of us, as he did earlier in the year when I saw them at the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. He also has a guitar that looks like mine which he uses for Design For Life. An unforgettable moment. An unforgettable gig.

Well that's it the last gig recap of 2014. Don't worry I have a few things lined up for 2015 which i'll be writing about.

Rage and Love
-Kat