29/06/2019 Cardiff Castle

[sculptureofabloke]

This was the first Welsh proper Manics gig I've missed since 2011 and it saddens me that I'm not disappointed at all. Grateful to have been able to see the second half of Truth live, particularly I'm Not Working and Be Natural that'd never been played live before this tour and you'd guess wouldn't have ever been played if it hadn't happened...

I just wonder if, after the three anniversary tours and James' Chamber soundtrack, whether they're gonna take any inspiration from that going forward. Alright, after Holy Bible and Everything Must Go tours there's been no Ifwhiteamerica, PCP, Further Away, Interiors.. probably gonna be no Be Natural and I'm Not Working after this either, but I wonder if playing stuff that they've not touched for best part of 20 years or ever has in any way inspired em to play other stuff on tour they've not played before. Just counted off the top of my head 30 album tracks that as far as I'm aware, they've never played live. Not to mention all but about 15 b-sides. Just frustrates me that they've got so much material to choose from, we know what they're capable of but it feels to me like they're treading water at the moment. Or maybe it's me who's treading water, whatever. Course now they're on 13 albums and generally looking at 22-24 song setlists, you're not gonna manage two songs per album even if you were looking for a career spanning set.