Last year the Manic Street Preachers announced that they’d be touring their critically acclaimed 1994 album ‘The Holy Bible’ to celebrate its twenty-year anniversary. Fans like myself were overjoyed to have the opportunity to see the album in its entirety, not only due to it being one of the band’s best albums, but also as it’s the last full album that lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards featured on before his disappearance. At the end of their initial UK tour, the band announced a second run of ‘The Holy Bible’ UK shows, including a few warm up shows in Edinburgh, Southampton and Wolverhampton, and a triumphant end to the shows at Cardiff Castle. Not only was the show highly anticipated as it was a homecoming show for the valley boys of Blackwood, but having not played the castle before, it was set to be their biggest show since they played their New Years Eve gig at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium in 1999.
After singing along to the Chemical Brothers Remix of ‘Faster’ playing on the screens and speakers, the crowd were fired up just in time for the band to take to the stage and perform ‘The Holy Bible’ opener ‘Yes’. “This show is in two parts, the first part is ‘The Holy Bible’, not a summer garden party party album”exclaimed lead singer and guitarist James Dean Bradfield, describing how the second part of the set would be “all dancing and sandwiches” before wittily continuing the album and introducing ‘Of Walking Abortion’.
‘The Holy Bible’ sounded fantastic and nothing can compare with a crowd of people singing along to lyrics such as “Who’s responsible? You fucking are” and “I wanna be so skinny that I rot from view”. Mesmorised by the harrowing lyrics that represent Edwards’ state of mind at the time of the albums creation, it’s easy to forget just how many superb guitar solos Bradfield has. Though unfortunately a guitar string broke during his solo on ‘Archives of Pain’ causing a rapid guitar change – bassist Nicky Wire described it to be one of Bradfield’s best solos, commenting on how “he really fucking shows off in that one”. Though ‘The Holy Bible’ is an incredibly intense album and Bradfield sings an unbelievable amount of quick paced lyrics in each track, tracks such as ‘She Is Suffering’ and the most contrasting track on the album ‘This Is Yesterday’ sounded outstanding and showed off Bradfield’s vocal range, with ‘This Is Yesterday’ also showing off one of Wire’s particularly infectious bass lines.
The tenderness of Bradfield voice was also highlighted in the second half of the show which included greatest hits and rarities, beginning with a solo performance of ‘The Everlasting’ from himself and a string quartet; in the surroundings of Cardiff Castle and with the crowds harmonising in mind, it was a touchingly beautiful performance. Bradfield was then joined by the rest of the band for the rest of the second set which featured hits such as ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’, ‘You Stole The Sun From My Heart’ and ‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’, as well as the musically beautiful ‘Golden Platitudes’ to counterpoint the big rockers, the guitar genius track ‘Condemned To Rock and Roll’ and ‘Everything Must Go’ track ‘Removables’, which is one of the tracks Richey had worked on after ‘The Holy Bible’.
The band finished the show in the only way possible; a mass sing along to ‘A Design For Life’, inclusive of fireworks – the perfect way to end such a historical gig. Going back to their ‘Generation Terrorist’ days which saw the destruction of many guitars, Wire attempted to smash his Maranello bass guitar, before failing and throwing it across the stage. Bradfield took over the task and after what felt like forever managed to split in in to two parts, stepping back up to his microphone to describe it as being “the toughest guitar in the fucking world” with a big smile on his face.
The band looked like they were having heaps of fun and were radiating energy, especially during the upbeat ‘You Love Us’ which saw them go back to their roots musically and really enjoy themselves in the process (Wire in particular did some impressive leg kicks despite being 6”3 and donning a skirt!) Though after releasing five studio albums in just seven years the Manics are due a break, I hope it’s not for too long. With the twenty-year anniversary of their ‘Everything Must Go’ album coming up next May and Wire planting the idea of the band possibly taking it on tour, it all sounds positive to me.
You can currently catch highlights of the Manics at Cardiff Castle over on BBC iPlayer.
