Manic Street Preachers - iTunes Festival, Roundhouse, London - 3rd July 2011 (Live Review)
Thursday, 07 July 2011
Written by James Ball
As most of you know, iTunes and the Camden Roundhouse put on a bunch of free gigs with tickets drawn via random lottery to a few thousand lucky winners. Therefore, when I won tickets to this one, I thought I’d hit the jackpot. Having seen the legendary Manics performing live at a semi-secret gig last October, I knew I was in for a treat. Sadly, it just fell short of being one, but for a free gig, I guess I can’t complain.
First up were Blondie, I mean Ramona. Female fronted and peppering the night with a bunch of intelligent, if slightly samey rock, the band opened proceedings in a functional if unspectacular manner. Nevertheless, as the gig is being streamed live, the big screens are all lit up and the backdrops look lovely, and the band look strangely at home in front of them, ushering in a confidence that makes it seem likely that they’re unlikely to be playing to smaller crowds for much longer. A few breakthrough tracks and they could really become something incredible, but as yet, it’s not quite the finished article.
Second up, Dry The River, who are a bit more Mumford and Sons than anyone really expected. Complete with dulcet, semi-folk tones, clever chord progression, carefully layered and well crafted tunes and the obligatory violinist, they seem entirely out of place on this bill, but are strangely mesmerising. Far more proggy and drawn out than the aforementioned album chart botherers, they’re not going to be for everyones tastes, and some of it was just a little too slow paced, but overall, a thought provoking and atmospheric main support.
Of course, the main event was yet to come and, marked by a countdown featuring other acts who have and will play the iTunes Festival, alongside images of previous Manics photoshoots and other assorted stills, the atmosphere suddenly began to rise for the Main Event. Over twenty years in existence, circumnavigating political, genre-breaking, trend setting rock, the Manic Street preachers certainly have a long and storied history, and coming on stage to 'You Love Us', one of their earliest singles and from first album 'Generation Terrorists', you know you’re not going to get some crummy preview of an upcoming album no-one’s ever heard of. You’re getting the hits. Good move. In fact, all but five of the eighteen tracks on display tonight were released ten or more years ago, perhaps in a move to appease those who believe that their best days are now long behind them.
The band were tight and well-rehearsed but there was certainly a lack of energy from James Dean Bradfield and co at times (with the exception of forever entertaining Nicky Wire, who is rarely ever off form), but thankfully the strong setlist of singalong after singalong made up for any real problems caused therein, and set closing 'A Design For Life' saw everyone spark into action for the last hurrah.
Altogether it was a set made entirely by the back catalogue, and while it was disappointing to see the band with comparatively less gusto than the October show, their true test of character is that they could easily have rolled off another ten songs tonight, the crowd would still have loved every minute, and the standard wouldn’t have dropped.
Of course, it’s not a Manics gig without some kind of statement of intent to keep people talking, and Wire found himself announcing a single gig next year, to coincide with the Queens Diamond Jubilee “Just so we don’t have to listen to Prince Phillip for an hour”. Add to that a rare, surprise outing for 'Gold Against the Souls' 'Life Becoming a Landslide', dedicated to forever missed guitarist Ritchie Edwards, and it proved to be a newsworthy one-off show.
So, the evening draws to a close, and everyone knows it’s time to leave when 'Everything Must Go' set-closer, 'A Design For Life' brings everything to a rip-roaring finale. It’s fitting that this song closes the set, especially here as the video was filmed fifteen years prior. Then the tickertape rained from the rafters and the crowd went mental before eventually picking themselves up and going home.
So, it’s certainly not the Manics at their rip-roaring best. Definitely not their most explosive show, but certainly one of their more standout setlists of their live careers, taking in almost their entire back catalogue and mushing twenty years of history into ninety minutes at one of Londons best venues. And best of all, it was free, so it’s impossible to complain.
Setlist:
You Love Us
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
(It's Not War) Just The End Of Love
Everything Must Go
Motorcycle Emptiness
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
Life Becoming a Landslide
Autumnsong
Some Kind Of Nothingness
Faster
Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
The Everlasting
The Masses Against the Classes
Ocean Spray
Postcards From A Young Man
Motown Junk
A Design For Life
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