Music / Reviews
Review: Manic Street Preachers, Bristol Beacon – ‘Yet another Manics masterclass’
The Manics celebrated the release of their 15th studio album Critical Thinking as they played a sold out show in the Bristol Beacon on Saturday night.
As frontman James Dean Bradfield remarked during the show, this is familiar territory for the Manics. He recalled sitting on the Beacon Balcony back in 1985 to watch Echo & the Bunnymen, a major influence in their 30+ year history.
The lights go down and the screen lights up with a remix of the album title song Critical Thinking blearing out to fans who fill in the lyrics by chanting “what happened to your critical thinking” in eager excitement.
is needed now More than ever
As the hardcore fans cling to the balcony, and the hall fills up, the band are on!
The Manics celebrated the release of their 15th studio album Critical Thinking
They waste no time launching into the new album with single Decline & Fall switching up from their usual before the monstrous beast of a guitar anthem that is Motorcycle Emptiness provides a newer anthem for us to sing.
I, along with others, was hoping that particular song would appear later in the set.
The Manics have always embraced their history. Their set included a wide selection from every era.
The thing with Manics fans is they know it all – they are obsessed. I’m grabbed to join a trio of fans jumping up and down equally as much to the Nirvana-esque You Stole The From Heart as they do to La Tristssa Durera.
Nobody quite does euphoric despair as well as the Manics do.
Australia is met with fervent joy, keeping the energy up, before bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire gets his lyric sheet and exclaims “I’m fucking multitasking my ass off here!!” as he takes lead vocal on Critical Thinking, poking a witty-wire shaped stick at large social media slogans that appear on the board behind them.
He unites everyone in the room as we all smile and shout: “SMART FUCKING MOTORWAYS!!”
They have missed a trick by not putting that on the shirt in the merch stand.
This song has to stay in the set forever surely?
Nobody quite does euphoric despair as well as the Manics do
The band dip into their classic album Holy Bible, rewarding the hardcore with She Is Suffering before the onslaught on our vocal chords that is Motorcycle Emptiness flys into Autumn Song so quickly it sets off the confetti cannon for A Design For Life. It’s all too much!
Imagine having songs of this magnitude with resonance to so many in the middle of your set? I’m gasping for air, as are those around me.
Guitar hero James Dean Bradfield is on fire, as usual, his prowess on his plethora of stunning guitars is flexed throughout.
His voice is powerful too, as he belts the songs out like it’s the nineties all over again.
The Manics are such a band of brothers that it’s like watching triplets.
The thing with Manics fans is they know it all – they are obsessed
James says goodbye to the boys to play a sweet three-song acoustic set by the best lyricists ever, Richey Edwards and their sadly departed friend Small Black Flowers, whose name is never far from a Manics gig.
Then Ready For Drowning is sung in Welsh “for the whole of Wales”.
The band frequently break from songs to give time for the glorious Beacon crowd to sing entire verses and choruses – such a wholesome experience and one I’m sure is not lost on the band, even after all these years.
They still have the poignant power to grab a crowd, emotionally and physically, as fans have outer body experiences to each of their favourite song.
“Thanks for coming to see us Bunch of Awkward Bastards after all these years,” James beams with sincerity as they close with their number one single If You Tolerate This Your Children Will be Next. The lyrics flash proudly and boldly behind them.
This is a band that means a lot to a lot of people and always will.
The red confetti cannon fires off and the gig ends as we sing in unison with the band. I’m soaked with confetti and other people’s sweat. Yet another Manics masterclass.
All photos: Matt Barnes
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