25/04/16 Cologne Live Music Hall, Germany

[MSPKYE]

Roll Call & Update Thread

[Takk]

Ok I think I can justify going to this as it's technically the closest .

Do we have a ticket link?

[Lindz Delirium]

Yay see you there Tim!

[Takk]

Ooh .

[MSPKYE]

Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier
A Design For Life
Kevin Carter
Enola/Alone
Everything Must Go
Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky (Acoustic)
The Girl Who Wanted To Be God
Removables
Australia
Interiors
Further Away
No Surface All Feeling
Suicide Is Painless (Acoustic)
Motorcycle Emptiness
Walk Me To The Bridge
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
Ocean Spray
Nat West – Barclays – Midlands – Lloyds
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
Roses In The Hospital
You're Tender And You're Tired
You Love Us
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

[Donkey]

Nice to see so many reviews

This was probably the worst Manics' gig I've been to (off 9), sadly, because I was looking forward to EMG part. This doesn't say the gig was bad, my girlfriend saw them for the first time and liked it very much. But let's start with the highlights:

Kevin Carter: fuck me, that was super, I always liked the song and yesterday it went really well, the chorus was very powerful.

Interiors: really nice to hear that live, it's actually my favourite ever Nicky's lyric

No Surface: just proved that this song is a least a half-mile better than anything else off EMG

NAT WEST BARCLEYS MIDLANDS LLOYDS: WHOO HOOOOO!


it was also nice to hear Tender/Tired, not a fan of it, but it's nice (besides the lyric) and fresh. I'm so fucking glad we got this except the horrible SKON.

Nicky has shown his german "skills" translating "one, two, three, four" as "ein, zwei, drei". Oh my.

Problems: Live Music Hall is a shithole, I've never seen Manics in such a horrible place. Awful, disastrous, bad sounding, stinky, dirty, small ugly venue I believe they usually play in such rubbish in Germany - I rememeber James letting lights on in Prague saying: Wow, that's a beautiful place, always nice to be here, you should see that shithole we played yesterday in Berlin.

I thought that it could be a venue problem and/or my placing there, but after reading Ben's comment from another gig, it is probably so: Wayne Murray's BVOC is fucking loud, specially in Further Away - it ruined the song almost completely. he shared lead vocals in Roses too - disaster. His guitar was absolutely unnecessary and was also responsible for bad overall sound - I understand the second guitar for stadiums, but in such a small venue it's purely contraproductive.

BACKING TRACKS: it's so embarassing to hear the choir in Australia. Noone's singing and yet AAAAAAAAUUUUUSTRALIAAAAAA. Again - could work on a stadium (I wouldn't like it anyway) but here in almost a club-sized venue, it is....not good Also it creates problem for other songs. EMG and Australia especially sound so so big with the backing track and then Interiors sound like something is missing. Also it doesn't make any sense to play a rocking tune like Roses with backing track (incl. tamburine and shaker - OMG), the music suffers, the tempo suffers, the song is boring.

Setlist: This is hard, I was not disappointed, I expected EMG + bung of shit + some nice surprise and i got it. I really didn't enjoy espeically Ocean Spray, Tolerate, You Stole the Sun ( really not good not only because I don't like it, James cannot sing it anymore, the backing track was too loud, it didn't rock - I saw people leaving the gig during it - a coincidence, but a nice one) and ME. SIP was the worst though. Nat West was great.

Audience: the worst audience I've ever experienced: noone had a clue what they were playing during Nat West and what was the funniest: I didn't hear all the shouts, but actually before James started SIP, someone shouted for some GnR songs, then So Why So Sad and then MOTORCYCLE EMPTINESS I wanted to scream Hibernation and then Just a Kid - at least show the riff- but I was speechless.
This is the first Manics' gig in Germany I've ever been to and although I didn't enjoy not a small part of UK audience - drunken guys jumping up, down, left, right, turbo left, up, bottom, etc. - this was the worst, such a cold audience!

Sound: the sound was awful, James's guitar was too quiet most fo the times, his voice too loud most of the times - only when Wayne sang (Wayne's vocal slave needs less low frequencies OMG!!!), then it was too silent

the band: Sean seemed a bit tired to me, Nicky also a bit, but certainly I've already seen them in a much better form.

James.
I don't write it with a pleasure, but his voice....is almost gone. He reaches the higher notes only with a technique of a very light tone, which is....sad. Small Black Flowers sounded like a parody. Even my girlfriend was a bit shocked, how bad he sounded. He's almost completely lost his naturally nice sound and relaxed singing ability. Some songs are already way to high for him and suffered from that: The Girl Who Wanted to Be a God, Design, SIP.

But I still think that main problem was the venue, had it been on a football stadium, I would have enjoyed it much more. EMG is a stadium album as well as most of the other songs they played. In a such a small venue they shoudl play in 3 pieces without backing tracks.


woud love to hear what you all think about James's voice. It is aging - naturally - but I was really a bit shocked yesterday.

[Takk]

Yeah, I have to say the same about James voice...not that it was almost gone, but it has gone downhill since i last saw them....it was a bit shocking, but maybe he has a bad voice or something.

[Lindz Delirium]

Funny how opinions differ. I thought it was one of the best gigs I've seen in years. Wire was well up for it obviously not jumping as much as he used to but I loved the dirty,sweaty dingyness of the venue, reminded me of the old days. Loved it. But then I had two super special bits that were personally magical for me, and Further Away is my favourite song x

[HunkyDory]

I really wonder if we went to the same gig, donkey. Can't say that the sound was bad or that James' voice "is almost gone". For me "small black flowers" was just beautiful. The band was in a good mood and James was really amused by all the people shouting songs, or as James named it: "Manics song bingo." The audience could've been better, but I wouldn't label them as "cold". You could say that the front row was maybe a bit uninspired.
I really don't know what kind of venue you've expected but for me it was a perfectly normal venue for a rock band. If I want a fancy venue I buy a ticket for the opera. But opinions differ, as Lindz already mentioned. .

[Donkey]

Originally Posted by HunkyDory

I really wonder if we went to the same gig, donkey. Can't say that the sound was bad or that James' voice "is almost gone". For me "small black flowers" was just beautiful. The band was in a good mood and James was really amused by all the people shouting songs, or as James named it: "Manics song bingo." The audience could've been better, but I wouldn't label them as "cold". You could say that the front row was maybe a bit uninspired.
I really don't know what kind of venue you've expected but for me it was a perfectly normal venue for a rock band. If I want a fancy venue I buy a ticket for the opera. But opinions differ, as Lindz already mentioned. .

where exactly did you stand?

Well, I saw them in Prague three times, a small sport hall, twice beautiful Lucerna: http://www.lucerna.cz/7_pronajmy
open-air festival, London Forum, Roundhouse, Birmingham....not sure what, but nothing was as horrible as this is Köln. Maybe I am already too old and too comfortable, but....no I am not, I just want to go to a nice venue, not to a shithole :-)

As for the audience...well...as for me myself as a musician I would love to get such an audience, but again as Ben said:

Originally Posted by Ben

I don't want to be part of a world where Ocean Spray gets a better reception that NBML or RITH.

the magic was simlpy not there. But yes, James as a guitarist and frontman....and Führer was great.

As for the opinions: I am so glad that you liked the gig, really. On the other hand among the fans there is always someone who say that a gig was great - always and it cannot be that they only play good gigs :-) Also it si very personal and one must ahve a bit of luck - I liked 2012 Prague gig - I stood in the front and thanks to the placing of speakers I didn't hear the backing tracks and also almost no Wayne, it was a pure orgasm, especially Nixon.

[Donkey]

Originally Posted by Takk

Yeah, I have to say the same about James voice...not that it was almost gone, but it has gone downhill since i last saw them....it was a bit shocking, but maybe he has a bad voice or something.

Actually it sounded to me like he had a lessons to learn how to reach the high tones because the orginal way doesn't work anymore. He was perfectly controlling the voice through the gig with no problems.

Originally Posted by Lindz Delirium

Funny how opinions differ. I thought it was one of the best gigs I've seen in years. Wire was well up for it obviously not jumping as much as he used to but I loved the dirty,sweaty dingyness of the venue, reminded me of the old days. Loved it. But then I had two super special bits that were personally magical for me, and Further Away is my favourite song x

Nice to hear that :-) Anyway what do you think about James's voice?

[Takk]

Originally Posted by Donkey

Actually it sounded to me like he had a lessons to learn how to reach the high tones because the orginal way doesn't work anymore. He was perfectly controlling the voice through the gig with no problems

He sang well, just wasn't the voice he had a few years ago.

[Donkey]

Originally Posted by Takk

He sang well, just wasn't the voice he had a few years ago.

yes, that's true, I just tried to describe this more technically. :-)

[Takk]

[AK47]

I think James hasn't sounded phenomenal for a number of years. His voice is clearly worked on for studio albums but that's life. He still sings better than most!