Manics gig blogs - Page 4 - Forever Delayed

blackflower · #46 30-09-2020, 08:17

Greetings once again! My blog post for the December 2004 gigs is up here!

Took me a little longer than expected to put this together, but I'm trying to get back into the flow of weekly blogging now. However, the Manics April 2005 gigs are up next, and they're going to be a challenge, as I have nothing to go on but the ticket stubs! It may end up just being a review of "God Save The Manics" and whatever scraps of memory I can pull from the recesses of my mind...

Routine Builder · #47 30-09-2020, 11:39

I think the Lifeblood setlists were the pinnacle of the band balancing a new album (6-7 tracks every night!)with singles and beloved album tracks. It's also the last era (including PPF) where I can stand to listen to a bootleg all the way through because after that no one will ever turn off Wayne Murray's or Nick Nasmyth's mikes no matter how out of tune their backing vocals are. I still think the Dublin gig is the best gig I've been to by a country mile.

Wasn't the Manchester gig the pinnacle of queue 'nazism'? (I believe a few people through a fit when the venue started opening doors that weren't located at where the queue started)

blackflower · #48 30-09-2020, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Routine Builder

I think the Lifeblood setlists were the pinnacle of the band balancing a new album (6-7 tracks every night!)with singles and beloved album tracks. It's also the last era (including PPF) where I can stand to listen to a bootleg all the way through because after that no one will ever turn off Wayne Murray's or Nick Nasmyth's mikes no matter how out of tune their backing vocals are. I still think the Dublin gig is the best gig I've been to by a country mile.

Oh god, I hear you re: Wayne Murray. His backing vocals overpowered James's completely on the Tolerate tour last year. I can't fathom why they let that happen!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Routine Builder

Wasn't the Manchester gig the pinnacle of queue 'nazism'? (I believe a few people through a fit when the venue started opening doors that weren't located at where the queue started)

Ooh, I have no recollection of that at all! If writing this blog has taught me anything, it's that things completely vanish from your memory if you don't write them down, no matter how memorable they seem at the time.

hummingbird · #49 30-09-2020, 14:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackflower

Oh god, I hear you re: Wayne Murray. His backing vocals overpowered James's completely on the Tolerate tour last year. I can't fathom why they let that happen!

Ooh, I have no recollection of that at all! If writing this blog has taught me anything, it's that things completely vanish from your memory if you don't write them down, no matter how memorable they seem at the time.

Wayne has started jumping around onstage too which is a worrying development. Very distracting. If it carries on might have to join the Nicky queue at gigs

blackflower · #50 30-09-2020, 15:44

I usually stand Nicky-side, which these days could almost be also called Manics-side, with the other half of the stage taken up with non-Manics.

Just realised I called it the Tolerate tour not TIMTTMY! Probably slipped because of the intolerable loudness of Wayne.

blackflower · #51 07-10-2020, 07:46

Morning! Would you believe it, I've actually managed two consecutive weeks of blogging! And so, here's the Hammersmith Apollo gigs of April 2005.

As mentioned last week, I have no diary entries for these gigs, so the post is more a rumination of what was going on in my life at the time and where my Manics fandom was headed for the decade to come. So a bit different from my usual posts, but I hope it's still of interest!

If I carry on blogging every week, then I'll get to JDB at KoKo in 2006 in 11 weeks, which feels like a long time away. Perhaps I'll try to speed up my blogging a bit, watch this space! (but maybe don't hold your breath

)

hummingbird · #52 07-10-2020, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackflower

Morning! Would you believe it, I've actually managed two consecutive weeks of blogging! And so, here's the Hammersmith Apollo gigs of April 2005.

As mentioned last week, I have no diary entries for these gigs, so the post is more a rumination of what was going on in my life at the time and where my Manics fandom was headed for the decade to come. So a bit different from my usual posts, but I hope it's still of interest!

If I carry on blogging every week, then I'll get to JDB at KoKo in 2006 in 11 weeks, which feels like a long time away. Perhaps I'll try to speed up my blogging a bit, watch this space! (but maybe don't hold your breath

)

I went to the first Hammersmith night so missed the CD. Picked it up via eBay a couple years later.
Only my second ever Manics gig and where your attendance went down, the SATT tour was when I started to go to more shows.

Remember very little about that Hammersmith gig so rely on other people to tell me what happened

blackflower · #53 07-10-2020, 13:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by hummingbird

I went to the first Hammersmith night so missed the CD. Picked it up via eBay a couple years later.
Only my second ever Manics gig and where your attendance went down, the SATT tour was when I started to go to more shows.

Ah, I wish I'd gone to more shows, especially for SATT and JFPL. And at least one of the Holy Bible shows - 19 year old me would have been aghast that I would one day ignore a THB anniversary tour! Ah well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hummingbird

Remember very little about that Hammersmith gig so rely on other people to tell me what happened

You and me both!

LA ex · #54 07-10-2020, 16:29

Another good read. For me the PPF tour (although really, only Firefight represented the future) was a turning point - I'd found my passion for the band had dwindled during the KYE and LB eras - the LB tour was for me the low point of their live career, playing without much passion in great big arenas. The PPF tour was exactly what they needed to do at that point to reignite my love - from the moment they stepped on stage to Found that Soul (WHY DON'T THEY OPEN, LET ALONE PLAY IT MORE OFTEN) to closing with Motown Junk, for someone who first saw them on the EMG tour this was the most exciting and dangerous I ever saw them performing live.

blackflower · #55 07-10-2020, 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by LA ex

Another good read. For me the PPF tour (although really, only Firefight represented the future) was a turning point - I'd found my passion for the band had dwindled during the KYE and LB eras - the LB tour was for me the low point of their live career, playing without much passion in great big arenas. The PPF tour was exactly what they needed to do at that point to reignite my love - from the moment they stepped on stage to Found that Soul (WHY DON'T THEY OPEN, LET ALONE PLAY IT MORE OFTEN) to closing with Motown Junk, for someone who first saw them on the EMG tour this was the most exciting and dangerous I ever saw them performing live.

Thank you

Interesting to hear how at the time my love for the band was waning it seems it was rekindled for many others! And oh lord yes. How I'd love to hear Found That Soul open a Manics gig these days and not Motorcycle.

blackflower · #56 17-03-2021, 10:12

Greetings once again! It's been a while. I ended up feeling completely unable to blog about gigs for the best part of three months or so, what with the ever escalating Tiers then lockdown 3. However, I have hit my blogging stride once again and have just posted my report of JDB at KoKo in 2006 - here's the link!

I've also started blogging All The Songs Of My Life and am going to do albums too, as I promised many moons ago! I'm going chronologically by when I first heard the music I'm writing about. Currently I'm in the late 80s, and I didn't get into the Manics til 1993 so it will be a little while before I get to them, but I'll keep you posted

blackflower · #57 15-04-2021, 15:21

Two more posts today! The two Manics gigs I went to in 2007 - The Astoria in May and Brixton in December.

I did the best I could with fairly sparse diary entries. I am so looking forward to getting to the gigs where I could be bothered writing properly again!

LA ex · #58 15-04-2021, 16:40

A good read as always - and always nice to hear how the different eras of the Manics affected different people. For me I really enjoyed the SATT tour (at least the first leg), the set list had the right balance between the hits, rarities and the new album, the band were playing well and it was an optimistic period of my life. Looking forward to your next entry!

blackflower · #59 16-04-2021, 07:04

Many thanks LA ex! Yeah, the main feeling I get now on looking back on these gigs is, I really wish I had been more enthusiastic about this era. They had a great album out and their biggest hit in ages. It should have been a golden time to be a Manics fan and I wish I'd taken advantage of it. But life had other plans, as it always does!

Next Manics post will be my gig on the JFPL tour I think, and my overriding memory is of nearly collapsing on the tube on the way home! Are there any good recordings of the JFPL gigs out there to jog my memory? Will have a look on YouTube!

LA ex · #60 16-04-2021, 15:34

Have you checked the gig archive mentioned in this thread (I'm not sure I'm supposed to directly link to the archive from this part of the forum:

http://www.foreverdelayed.org.uk/for...ad.php?t=63222

I can't guarantee which are good quality, but there's a few from the JFPL tour to pick from.