Entertainment For Lively Minds
Manic Street Preachers - 'National Treasures'
Posted by Specs_Beard on 18 December 2011 - 7:24pm.
When:
17 December 2011
Where:
The O2, London, UK
Comments:
All 38 singles. Would knowing what we were getting suck the life out of the gig? (If you tolerate this, one you know will be next?) No. The album runs from 'then' to 'now' but chronology was chucked out of the window for the concert, allowing the Manics to casually drop monumental high-points throughout the whole evening. Not that pacing was an issue - they haven't released too many ballads on 45. Sean Moore (an amazing drummer anyway) was an absolute powerhouse for three hours. And overwhelmingly, you came away thinking that early or late career, hit or miss, mainstream or underground - the Manics have always released brilliant singles. Always. Yes, 'Autumnsong'. Yes, 'Roses in the Hospital'. An exhilirating, uplifting night. Even they seemed to barely believe they got through it.
The Audience:
A lot of people like the wife and me. Growing old at roughly the same rate as the Manics. Some young ones down the front may have been dreading the Nicky Wire in-a-dress foot-on-the-monitor moment.
Food & Drink:
We ate in a Zizzi before reaching the O2. Worth saying here that the circuit of restaurants and shops at the O2 is called 'Entertainment Avenue'. Ha ha ha.
It Made Me Think...:
That for all the bravado and chutzpah the Manics showed in their early days, taking on something like this and succeeding makes them more ambitious and thrilling now.
A-ha!
D'you know, I thought it might've been you I saw on the tube going to Greenwich Specs_Beard, but as I'd only met you at the June mingle (which is a bit hazy now), thought it best not to come charging over and being embarrassing.
It was a bloody good, wasn't it? James Dean Bradfield's pipes were as extraordinary as the ever have been (and he's not half bad on the guitar either).
I was there too
And that goes for Zizzi's before the gig too. The GLW and myself were lucky enough to secure seats in her employers corporate box through a ballot. I'd not been to the O2 before and was a bit worried over the sound due to my usual gigs being in pubs and village halls but was pleasantly surprised. I thought that Autumnsong, Some Kind of Nothingness and The Everlasting were particular highlights. James Dean Bradfield is a very underated as a front man, the whole sound of this band rests on his shoulders and as Nicky Wire said he didn't out a foot wrong all night.
Many years back
A journalist friend of mine took me to see them at a small club in Fulham (I think) many years ago before they broke big and I thought they were fantastic..
I wish I'd gotten to see this show to find out where they're at now..