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Manics gig number 23.... TIMTTMY has a strange place in my heart. The album itself has never been one of my favourites, but being the first new album after becoming a Manics fan it always had a certain emotional attachment. I was lucky enough to see them at Dundee Caird Hall on the first leg of the TIMTMMY tour, with what was my second ever gig falling the day after finishing my summer job and two weeks before heading to university, with the album sound tracking my first weeks of spreading my wings and leaving home.
This was my first gig at the Manchester Ritz - seemed like a nice venue... I do like a good balcony in a venue like that! At one point later in the show Nicky reeled off an incredibly long list of the venues they'd played in Manchester over the years, although needed promting from the audience for the Albert Hall. Turns out he'd hated the venue, which is a shame as I'd loved the Holy Bible gig there.
The Everlasting made for a slightly subdued opener, before heading into YSTSFMH.... cue me trying to remember if I'd misremembered the track order or whether there was something funky happening with the set orders. YSTSFMH has grown significantly with me over the years (at least the live version) and got a rapturous reception from the crowd.
Ready for Drowning sound particularly ferocious, followed by the as always robust Tsunami. A slightly limp My Little Empire then led into a run of six songs in a row that I'd never heard performed live before (a run that had only ever happened at my first Manics gig and when at the JFPL shows many years ago).
I'm Not Working and You're Tender and You're Tired I've always considered the weak point of the album, and performed live didn't change my mind. Born a Girl worked well, but Be Natural was the first song that I saw in a completely different light after a live performance. I hadn't quite realised how Radioheadesque the song was before.
Then it was my highlight of the night.... Black Dog on my Shoulder (am I right that before this tour it had only been performed acoustically?), again showing a greater depth to the song when performed live, especially with the strings not so prominent. I've seen elsewhere the debate about Prologue to History being played rather than Nobody Loved You - I noticed a fair few bemused faces in the crowd who were clearly expecting the latter. I didn't think it was a particularly great performance, especially with the comparison of the memories I have of how great NLY was live.
A trawl through SYMM and then it was back to Tolerate. I've commented before on how epic the outro has developed over the years, and this performance was no exception.
With TIMTTMY out of the way I presumed it was time for a short JDB acoustic intermission. But no, after a little bit of guitar noodling THAT riff kicked in with the crowd joining in singing along to the riff a mini moshpit developed (which after only seeing them in Arenas/outdoor shows the past few years was nice to see one back). I'd had Gold Against on the Soul on in my car whilst driving to the gig, thinking the album had been ignored in recent tours and deserved some love, so was glad to see an excellent performance of the opener which set the tone perfectly for the second set.
Your Love Alone and International Blue followed to keep the tempo up at the start of the set. "This next song has often been described as a six minute guitar solo fitted with poetry" introduced Nicky (or words similar to that). Motorcycle Emptiness then I presumed. Although it could equally well describe Condemned to Rock n Roll I guess....... Nope it was Motorcycle Emptiness, Nicky you big tease! Nicky did seem to be in a good mood all night, and there were even a star jump or two thrown in for good measure.
Solitude Sometimes Is made a nice surprise entrance followed by It's Not War - whilst not the favourite of many a fan I quite enjoyed it. At this point I realised the second set had comprised six songs from six different albums. Could they possibly be doing one song from each of their albums in this part of the set? Would there be something off JFPL? Could they possibly play only one song off EMG? Could you Love Us possibly be dropped?
And then La Tristesse Durera started up and my thoughts were destroyed. For a song that was at one point a pretty much nailed on live staple I was surprised it was the first time I'd heard it live since the National Treasures concert almost seven years and nine concerts ago.
You Love Us, No Surface All Feeling and A Design For Life then brought the night to a solid end. Overall I felt it was a really good show - not quite into the upper echeloens of Manics shows but definitely one that's still got me buzzing the next day. Onwards to York next week for another Manics Monday (sorry!)
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