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Old 27-09-2019, 04:07
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junkymotown junkymotown is offline
Knowlede Is Power
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Japan
Age: 39
Posts: 1,485
- The First Half

So the setlist. I think the first half followed the same as previous dates. TIMT in mostly the right right order, with Tsunami and My Little Empire swapped over, Prologue in place of Nobody Loved You and Tolerate at the end.

- Thoughts on this half...

Tsunami was absolutely rocking. I mean, that song was made to be played live. Just astounding. My Little Empire - I heard that first on TV with Glastonbury 99 - last night's version was far superior. The guitar was just sublime. Prologue to History was just spat out, full of venom and malice - so so so good. Highlight of the set! Born A Girl - just James and Nick Naysmyth - was absolutely beautiful, really worked well. SYMM was great, but rightly didn't close the set - that would have been weird. Really enjoyed all the others too, but Tsunami and Prologue really stood out the most.

The Second Half -

Slash 'n' Burn / Your Love Alone / Everything Must Go / International Blue / ADFL / Little Baby Nothing / Sweet Child O' Mine / You Love Us / No Surface / Motorcycle Emptiness

Thoughts on this half -

Slash 'n' Burn was just blistering. The guitar work on the Firebird was spot on, and the sound was gorgeous. James gave it his all, moans and all. YLA was great. Everything Must Go just had this sinister edge to it. James didn't play his usual Gretsch for this one, using the (I think) Shergold. Whether that was the reason or not, I dunno, but it was really bloody good as a performance. Little Baby Nothing was a nice addition, but without the female vocals, it's not as strong, obviously. But still - Four GT songs in a set! Yes please. Sweet Child was a great cover choice, and as JDB said - there's no meaning, no reason, no statement, just a great song that rocks (or something like that). And rock, it did. And then... closing on Motorcycle Emptiness. That... was just beautiful.

Positives - The Japanese crowds are nice and placid (not just at Manics gigs). Nice and calm, no squishing and aggressive pushing. Though not as much jumping around I guess. Every song, especially the GT stuff, got massive audience participation. People were really belting them out - JDB gave a whole half verse of LBN to the audience.

Negatives -

Wayne Murray's vocals too loud. And not always pleasant. Nicky's vocals too quiet. James' guitar too quite during the solos on some songs.

Guitar nerd info -

Nicky was on Fender Japan Aerodyne basses the whole night. A natural finish with tortoiseshell pickguard and PJ pickups (I think) for the TIMT set, then his shoreline gold Aerodyne jazz for the second half, with the red Aerodyne P (with the Sex Pistols sticker) for Sweet Child o Mine.

James had the white Gibson LP Custom (with new pickups with gold poles?), (Richey's) Fender Telecaster Thinline, cream Jazzmaster and a 52 Telecaster in natural finish during the first half. Second half saw him whip out a non-reverse Firebird for Slash and Burn and Sweet Child, and what I think was a white Shergold (correct me please) which he used for most of the set. White LP got very little look-in last night!!

And my own personal joy...

18 years after my first Manics gig (Manchester Apollo, 2001) and 20 years after first hearing Motown Junk on Glasto 99 and being blown away enough to suddenly seek out everything I could about this band - I finally got to meet them. Well, Nicky and James. I was allowed backstage, and had a little chat with Nicky about his Jimmy Savile shellsuit at the Apollo and what he's reading, and a little chat with James about guitars. And, of course, the obligatory photographs. So I am a happy chappy.

That aside, this was simply just a great gig. Though, in honesty, TIMT really doesn't work as well as a "full album played live" thing as EMG or THB. But as a fan, it was a wonderful experience.
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Manchester Apollo - 27 Feb 2001
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Forever Heavenly (London) - 12 Sep 2008
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London O2 - 17 Dec 2011
Manchester Ritz - 27 Sep 2013
Manchester Albert Hall - 11 Dec 2014
Tokyo Studio Coast - 8 Nov 2016
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