Manic Street Preachers - London Brixton Academy - 31/3/01
5/5
By: Toby L
Set-List: 'Found That Soul', 'Motorcycle Emptiness', 'Masses Against The Classes', 'So Why So Sad', 'Kevin Carter', 'Ocean Spray', 'You Stole The Sun From My Heart', 'La Tristesse Durera', 'Yes', 'Let Robeson Sing', 'Motown Junk', 'Year of Purification', 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head', 'Small Black Flowers', 'Miss Europa Disco Dancer', 'Wattsville Blues', 'Faster', 'Tsunami', 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next', 'You Love Us', 'A Design For Life'.
It's difficult to imagine the Manics not being anything short of mind-blowing in a concert setting. To a certain extent, you know what you're getting: ten years' worth of strong musicianship, boss tunes and a stunning live energy that overpowers all in competition. However, because of their vast musical repertoire, you can never be sure what tracks they'll air from show to show - so far, their live sets in 2001 have proved that anything can be pulled out from the hat, but something they can guarantee is that you'll always enjoy the contents, no matter what it is.
This is why, when they plug into the classics 'La Tristesse Durera' and 'Yes', the former triggering lead-singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield to bellow, 'C'est tres bonne, absolutement,' bodies twitch with excitement - your arms forced to wave in the air as you shout out the lyrics like an obedient puppy. However, as Craig David once sang - 'Rewind' - to about twenty five minutes prior to this, and you find that... the scene is exactly the same! The Manics start as they mean to continue, sloshing out more hits that you can rip out of a Tyson boxing match.
The beautiful 'Motorcycle Emptiness' - just one of the first furores to occur tonight - is second in the set, to be followed by the past number one, the awesome and mighty 'Masses Against The Classes', which prompts Bradfield to comment before its opening, 'This is my little party trick - stop filming now,' proceeding himself forth to call out into the vastness of the Academy the opening vocal notes of said track, whipping up a frenzy in doing so. Allowing 'click, click, click' to be the cause for introducing 'Kevin Carter' and, indeed, trumpeter Sean, we're launched into a mist of spiralling lights and twisting mirrorballs, whilst Nicky Wire on bass hitches his left leg on his monitor, baring his almost-knee length socks to us, as he nods his head in unison with the music, his dress shuddering in the process.
Of the 'Know Your Enemy' tracks aired this evening - for there weren't that many - 'Ocean Spray' sets itself up to be one of the MSP originals, providing surprisingly heavy riffs and rhythms when the song's sentiments aren't proving to be touching. 'Let Robeson Sing' is as sublime on record as in live performance, the slower pace of the track providing the band with a much needed breather after the predominantly loud nature of the concert thus far. However, it isn't long until it all becomes more ambient and chilled than this; the customary tradition of James Dean taking centre-stage solo, alone, bar an acoustic guitar, has now become something that the Preacher fans hold on to and enjoy. The songs featured tonight - the notorious and audience-winning rendition of 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head', as well as achingly sweet 'Small Black Flowers'. The band prove that staggering ability can allow both soft and hard music to exist both in the same occasion, as long as you've got the tunes to do it.
That Nicky Wire, though - shucks, he likes to have a swear, doesn't he? Returning onstage with fellow drummer Sean Moore and keyboardist Nick Naismith, Wire chants, 'Braindead,' over and over, allowing us to fill in the following word ('Motherf**kers'), a lyric taken from the Bee Gees-tribute, 'Miss Europa Disco Dancer', which opens the second part of their full band set. The stage brightens up with twinkling lights and thanks to the smooth bass - provided by James, after swapping instruments with Nicky - and stroky guitar, an arena which has so far been subjected to movements in the form of moshing, crowd-surfing and the pogo has ass-wiggling and flailing arms installed in its place. The crowning glory of this standout number is Wire placing his feather boa-laden mic stand on top of the venue's stage-left sound system, himself climbing on top of it, to allow us all to repeat the phrase we've just uttered as the song rings out of our ears and finally closes.
The finale of the dead-on ninety minute show sees the anthems being left amongst us: the 'man kills everything'-proclaiming 'Faster', the ramshackle and crazy 'You Love Us' and mellow, but still utterly epic 'If You Tolerate This...' Finest of the evening, though, is the twirling whirlwind of 'Tsunami' and - inevitably - the show-concluding 'A Design For Life', which sees all in attendance united in song, singing to the tops of our lungs in joint appreciation for the incredible act before us.
The post-show party sees Wire and Naismith in high spirits and it's quite understandable to see why. Going to see this act in concert is like a real wrestle with emotions - their music has the power to change lives. And, for many, it has. Delivering strong messages in infectious, but powerful compositions, perhaps the last vocals of tonight's 'Motown Junk' saw frontman James summarising it ideally for us: 'We just wanna rock out...' Let's hope the intentions stay the same for many years to come.
Photo-Credit: Andrew Future
Artists in this article: Manic Street Preachers
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