BBC Radio 2 Live Presents: Manic Street Preachers, St David's Hall, Cardiff
A live gig! An actual live gig! Having been more cautious than a lot of the people around me and avoiding the first few weeks of 'freedom' by not going to some of the outdoor festivals that have happened recently. I forgoed Bloodstock this year due to work commitments (and my hatred of camping) but as luck would have it, tickets for BBC Radio 2 presenting the Manic Street Preachers, managed to find their way too me through the ballot and I was once again in the road to a live gig, after quite a lengthy layoff.
Taking place at the still closed to the public St David's Hall, this was a masked, socially distanced, fully seated, audience of around 100 people, spread out across the length of the venue in groups of two, this was a very rare chance to catch an arena size band in a very intimate venue. Having taken our seats been given our safety announcements by Jo Wiley herself, we were told to make as much noise as possible as this was being recorded for both audio and video, with numerous cameras on and in front of the stage as well as at the back of the venue.
The stage dressing itself was reasonably bare, keys and rhythm guitar position/rack on the right hand side of the stage with drums in the back and the bass cab decked out in the Ddraig Goch. There was also a triple screen set up and lots of strip lights that would be used to great effect, but more on that later. Jo Wiley came back on to the stage, did her link and then as the place erupted, the applause and cheers echoing in the cavernous venue the Manics stode on to the stage in their unassuming style kicking off the night with an understated number before frontman James Dean Bradfield welcomed us all and drove straight into 'an old one' which was the first singalong moment of the night, the evergreen rock anthem Motorcycle Emptiness which brought a few tears to the eye, due to the power of the song itself but also, the magnitude of the show itself hitting home.
Live music for some is vital, the bands especially and you could visibly see The Manics become more at ease as the hour long show wore on, Bradfield managing avoid blowing out his voice, which by the ned had that golden hue as Nicky Wire, decked out in his usual elaborate stage garb, began the night a little understated then started to throw shapes with the best of them. The set was a mix of tracks from their as yet released record, The Ultra Vivid Lament, some album tracks such as Let Robeson Sing and International Blue and some stone cold classics in the form of Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, If You Tolerate This (which still hits home) and You Stole The Sun From My Heart. The songs were more than musical spectacle, the screens carrying the words of Jack Kerouac, George Orwell and the most potent lyrics of each of their songs, "Reject All Propaganda""So If I Can't Shoot Rabbits, Then I Can Shoot Fascists""Culture Sucks Down Words"and "Libraries Gave Us Power" in large letters with the light show adding an artistic flourish.
Towards the end of the show we were treated to a cover of Echo And The Bunnymen's Bring On the Dancing Horses and as the final notes rang out across the St David's Hall, all involved were enriched by the experience. The band finding their feet after the enforced break and the crowd possibly more appreciative of the music than if this gig had been in 2019. The show will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in September and will be on iPlayer and BBC Sounds before that, however you won't get the story of Jockey Wilson telling young Nicky Wire to fuck off at the International Darts Tournament in this very venue. It's tales like this that makes live music so vital, you can watch as many live streams or performance videos as you want but they just don't hold up, to the feel of a band cranking out their best songs to an audience! 9/10