I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to actually. I was a bit fatigued after the main tour and was kind of expecting to feel the same about this gig, but it exceeded my expectations. I was just to the left of James on the barrier, so the crowd were pretty good round me...not overly pushy, but plenty of jumping up and down and singing along etc.
I noticed they switched Tsunami and My Little Empire around, presumably to break up the slower album tracks a bit more. Playing Truth in this setting was always going to be a bit odd and really, I'm surprised they did another album gig for this one, rather than just a standard set list, but then I realise they didn't play Wales on the main tour. The second half wasn't anything that unusual, but at least it was a bit different to the rut they got in towards the end of the tour. What they did play seemed to go down well at least. The band seemed happier than at some other recent gigs as well, but then if they weren't going to make an effort for this of all gigs, they never were! I thought it was particularly funny that you could hear James doing his vocal warm-ups just before they came on stage...he really does have a loud voice
We saw The Killers the night before the Manics as well (two of my favourite bands in the same venue on consecutive nights...I couldn't believe my luck when The Killers were announced for the Friday, as I already had my Manics tickets by then), so it was a really great weekend overall and we got decent weather. In fact, I was glad it cooled down a lot by the time the Manics came on.
I can't pretend I won't be glad of a break now though
I kind of hope they go quiet for a bit and go away to work on a new album or something. That's not to sound ungrateful, but I do wonder if they even have a say in the number of gigs they do. The live entertainment industry is where a lot of the big money is made now. Personally I don't think they needed to do as many gigs as they did for Truth, but they sold out most (if not all?) of the venues, so of course they'd do it. Towards the end of the tour, they didn't seem to be having quite as much fun as they were at the beginning of it and they stopped changing even one or two songs for the last few gigs, but as I said, they may not get to decide the length of their tours, especially if the label know there is a market for it.
A few photos from my iPhone:
