20/07/19 Splendour Festival

[MSPKYE]

Tickets

[LA ex]

Is it bad that half of the festivals the Manics are playing this summer I haven't heard of before?

[hummingbird]

Originally Posted by LA ex

Is it bad that half of the festivals the Manics are playing this summer I haven't heard of before?

Just think of it as the organisers are asking them to play so they can guarantee people will turn up

[Hell on Wheels]

Stage times announced - Manics on 21:00 - 22:30
https://www.splendourfestival.com/site-map-stage-times/

[LA ex]

Anyone make it? Looked like an interesting festival set with Little Baby Nothing, My Little Empire, Suicide is Painless and acoustic Ocean Spray added in.

[LA ex]

Although of the eighteen songs they played a grand total of one was from their most recent five studio albums.

[IntlDebris]

Originally Posted by LA ex

Although of the eighteen songs they played a grand total of one was from their most recent five studio albums.

I know it's a festival set, so they're going to go for the top 20 singles approach, but this is still pretty grim reading. Regardless of whatever our opinions here on the board have been, the past five albums have all been very well regarded, critically, and the band have mostly seemed pretty happy with them. In fact, there are only three songs from this century (eight albums), with the rest of the setlist from the '90s (five albums). There's a little bit more balance in the tours, but it still feels like they're playing up the 'legacy band' thing, which feels pretty much the opposite of what the band are about.

[darkanddivine]

Originally Posted by IntlDebris

I know it's a festival set, so they're going to go for the top 20 singles approach, but this is still pretty grim reading. Regardless of whatever our opinions here on the board have been, the past five albums have all been very well regarded, critically, and the band have mostly seemed pretty happy with them. In fact, there are only three songs from this century (eight albums), with the rest of the setlist from the '90s (five albums). There's a little bit more balance in the tours, but it still feels like they're playing up the 'legacy band' thing, which feels pretty much the opposite of what the band are about.

I think a lot of these festivals (judging by the line-ups) are catering both to a specific audience and a specific sub-set of bands. Long story short, I think that has a hand in the sets they play.

Back in the days of the late 90's/early 00's, there were literally a handful of music festivals for all alternative music and alternative music fans (Reading, Glasto, T, V etc.) Over the years, these became prestigious and quite expensive, so a few "alternative alternative" fests came along (eg: Truck, 2000 Trees, ArcTangent.) These fests were, in many ways, set up to cater to fans of smaller bands who were increasingly locked out of the big festivals. Or, if that didn't cater to your tastes, you had the rise of specialist fests for dance, metal and so on (Parklife, Download etc.)

The trouble for many British 90's rock/indie bands is that they aren't specialist enough to play a specialist festival, and they aren't big enough for any of the mainstream festivals anymore. On top of that, they're not exactly up and coming either. That's why, it seems to me, there's been an absolute explosion of these festivals that do a bit of a nostalgia fest. In part theyr'e catering to the bands who wouldn't get a look in, but also to the fans who feel that they don't want to watch a bunch of 18 year olds salivating over bands they have never heard of. For the demographic involved, these warm and fuzzy fests probably make a lot of sense. Take the kids, have a "lovely time," ignore the bands you've never heard of in the day and then put the nippers to bed. Then have a few beers and reminisce about how great it was when you had more hair and a slimmer waistline.

It's kinda genius in a way. Take a group of people who would be retiring from going to festivals and offer them a way back in. Decent price, decent bands, and an all-round family vibe. To be honest, this doesn't appeal to me in the slightest, but I can see what some people see in it. And in an era where getting any sort of stage time at a major festival is a vanishing prospect for some bands, I don't blame the likes of MSP for making lots of people very happy. I think that explains why many of the setlists (not just MSP) at these events are pure nostalgia porn. More the power to those who go, but for me it's a complete waste of moolah.

[roi]

Originally Posted by IntlDebris

I know it's a festival set, so they're going to go for the top 20 singles approach, but this is still pretty grim reading. Regardless of whatever our opinions here on the board have been, the past five albums have all been very well regarded, critically, and the band have mostly seemed pretty happy with them. In fact, there are only three songs from this century (eight albums), with the rest of the setlist from the '90s (five albums). There's a little bit more balance in the tours, but it still feels like they're playing up the 'legacy band' thing, which feels pretty much the opposite of what the band are about.

There is more balance with the tours, but it’s funny they’ve played more from Lifeblood and KYE in the last two years than Rewind the Film and Futurology, songs from which they haven’t touched at all this year.

[Hell on Wheels]

I went. Didn’t care much for the other acts. Manics were great. Went down to the front. Was a pretty good set for a festival, all the crowd pleasers for the general public! I hate festivals though. Far too many people.

[LA ex]

Originally Posted by Hell on Wheels

I went. Didn’t care much for the other acts. Manics were great. Went down to the front. Was a pretty good set for a festival, all the crowd pleasers for the general public! I hate festivals though. Far too many people.

Far too many people at festivals nowadays with absolutely no interest in the music (in my recent experiences anyway).

[Hell on Wheels]

Originally Posted by LA ex

Far too many people at festivals nowadays with absolutely no interest in the music (in my recent experiences anyway).

totally agree!

[starfucker]

I fail to see the issue with "festival setlists" when they're playng a festival. Of course they're gonna smash out the hits. Imagine if you'd never seen them and they were playing a festival near you and they didn't play ADFL or Tolerate or ME, you'd feel a bit gutted. Obviously most people on here have seen them countless times and have heard those songs live many times.

It is nice to get the odd rarity for the hardcore fans, but look what happened when they knocked out Horses Under Starlight on the EMG20 tour. Everyone went to the bar.

Festival highlights for me were Glastonbury 1999 when they had to stop partway through Yes due to crowd crushing then came back and started it again - it meant I got to see part of, and then all of, my favourite Manics song. Also that night, after the performance, one of my mates (not really into the band at the time) was asking, "What was that one with the mad piano intro?" (Prologue To History) Maybe that's an anomaly but some of their lesser know tunes do deserve more of an airing at festivals. Only tonight James bashed out 30 Year War in a five song set. (Thanks to whoever filmed that by the way).

Other festival highlights for me were, among others, It's So Easy at Reading 2001, opening with Faster at Reading on the second stage (can't remember the year - 2008 ish?), Pennyroyal Tea on the same night and, of course, MOVE when they were promoting Lipstick Traces - Take The Skinheads Bowling was brilliant.

They are getting to the stage in their career where they are kind of becoming a legacy act, much like the Stones (again, imagine you went to see them and they didn't play Paint It Black) and there's nothing wrong with that so long as they keep writing the odd banger now and again. I, for one, hope International Blue stays in the set forever. Forever, forever, forever.....