It’s raining. Of course it is. Castlefield Bowl is tricky in the dry, but it’s even more treacherous in the rain and it’s not long before I slip in my arse on the grass bank during ‘Trash’. Suede are on fine form though and sound bloody good on ‘Animal Nitrate’. Brett clearly wanting to get everyone fired up. I’ve recovered and my blushes are spared by the time we get ‘The Drowners’. Brett has the capacity crowd in his hands as always. Working the front row, threatening to get into the throng and it is a throng, absolutely packed. A mid set lull does lose the masses. It’s a split crowd after all between Suede and Manic Street Preachers, but ‘Filmstar’ fixes that, Brett swinging the mic and his hips. A new one sounds good, but this perhaps isn’t the crowd to really appreciate it. “What should we do now?” he asks, trying to fire people up once more. “I want rowdy!!”. ‘Saturday Night’ isn’t what I would have thought would get every one going and it doesn’t. It’s a beautiful song, but does quite catch. It’s a shame, I saw them in Albert hall last year and they blew me away. ‘She Still Leads Me On’ does better. It sounds awesome, even as I’m wrestling around this ill suited venue to the bar. Brett’s vocals cut through everything don’t they, in the best possible way of course. ‘The Wild Ones’ is lovely, but the sound does get a little lost. That said with just Brett and Richard with an acoustic, it’s simplilty works. ‘So Young’ into ‘Metal Mickey’ is stunning. It galvanises the crowd setting up ‘Beautiful Ones’ with everyone in on the “La La la’s”. A great set, but I prefer them indoors with their own crowd.
Manics come on and bang!! ‘You Love Us’ explodes. Feather boas are in the air as the floor space erupts. It’s a cracking start. ‘Everything Must Go’ then ensures the crowd are locked in. Even the hill at the top is in full voice. The video for ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ is projected behind them as they smash through it, Nicky scissor kicking as they go. Honestly if they keep this up, I might start struggling to breathe. James introduces “the depressing cover song” though and they plough through ‘Suicide is Painless’. Slowing things down in maudlin fashion. People are taking selfies during ‘You Stole the Sun From My Heart’ which is a bit weird and ‘To Repel Ghosts’ loses the hill totally. Which is a bloody shame as it fucking brilliant. The dark cinematic shoegazey guitars really are stunning and it’s one of the highlights for me. It’s a cracking show. Manics being Manics in front of a slogan packed video projection. What more could you want. Nicky reminisces about playing the city 34 years ago and shouts out both Richie and the local burgers. Before we get ‘Little Baby Nothing’ with long time live back up from the Anchoress. It really is a lyrical masterclass, I think I’d forgotten just how much I love it. They follow with ‘Your Love Alone is Not Enough’ which isn’t a favourite, but it’s always a live monster. Seans drums shaking the ground. We get all the eras. ‘Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier’ gloriously setting up a typically rousing ‘Design For Life’ with a mid-set flex that they pull off with ridiculous ease. After teasing some Roses riffs, ‘La Tristesse Durera’ is started with just James’ vocal and the crowd clapping the beat, before he slowly ushers in the melody and wallop, the bass kicks, the rhythm chugs. Fuck me what a song. Sean’s drums do have a bit of baggy Roses bounce, but it’s those riffs that really cook. ‘Walk Me to the Bridge’ is an odd one, like two songs welded together, but the power ballad chorus is killer, it just keeps stepping up. ‘Kevin Carter’ is a nice dark unexpected treat. I’ve not heard it live in a long long time and it provides yet another highlight as a few worse for wear patrons slip and slide on the muddy incline of our vantage point. ‘Orwellian’ is the newest song and does nose dive a bit with the crowd, but it’s not bad. Manics don’t do bad songs. It’s dark now though and as the lights search this outdoor amphitheater, they unleash ‘From Despair to Where’. There’s no strings behind it, giving it a wonderful raw power feeling, especially when James lets out that scream. There’s no such thing as a perfect set. Please one punter, you disappoint another. This feels like they balance it right though, it’s career spanning. With a nod to nearly every album and certainly every era. Everything Must Go is predictably the winner though and with songs like ‘No Surface All Feeling’ why not. It’s an unlikely sharp end of the set marvel. Those drums, that chorus. Glorious. A short snippet of Smashing Pumpkins ‘Today’ is teased and I want more, but it’s time for the finale with ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’. Another unlikely hit, but isn’t that Manics all over. It’s a stark message, but poignant and always fun to hear a pissed crowd singing along, arms aloft and holding each other up. Those feather boas are up too. A bloke tries to get a chant of Fuck the Tories going, sadly unsuccessfully, but I don’t care as the glitter cannons go off and were sent off into the night. Amazing stuff from both bands and well worth the Castlefield assault course. It stopped raining too.
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