20/05/19 Manchester Ritz

[MSPKYE]

[solitude]

Coming over from Toronto for 3 gigs, starting with this one!

[MrsBateman]

Going to be at this one. I had to - it's my birthday. :-D

[relic]

Got tickets for both Manchester gigs!

[Phil C]

I'll be there!

As in 2014 I was tempted to go for both nights but it's close to Christmas...

I guarantee I'll be kicking myself for only going to one of the shows come May.

[solitude]

Is anyone else still unable to access their print-at-home tickets for this gig? TicketMaster shows there's a dispatch error and for me to contact customer service, but they are ignoring me.

I'm seriously close to a breakdown here: in two days, I'm flying to Manchester from Toronto for a sold-out gig and my ticket is being withheld.

[Lyds]

Originally Posted by solitude

Is anyone else still unable to access their print-at-home tickets for this gig? TicketMaster shows there's a dispatch error and for me to contact customer service, but they are ignoring me.

I'm seriously close to a breakdown here: in two days, I'm flying to Manchester from Toronto for a sold-out gig and my ticket is being withheld.

Hello! I had the same problem, called and emailed loads of times but got my tickets immediately after I tweeted - good luck!

[solitude]

Originally Posted by Lyds

Hello! I had the same problem, called and emailed loads of times but got my tickets immediately after I tweeted - good luck!

I just got my ticket e-mailed to me too, minutes ago, after 4 e-mails and several Tweets and Twitter DMs to Ticketmaster over the past 9 days. So I'm OK now. But we are not the only ones affected, that's for sure. How do people who don't know to hassle TM on Twitter fare with this issue? I also didn't see any action just by filling in the 'contact us' form on the website.

See you on Monday!

[Lyds]

At least we got there in the end! Hope you have a fab time

[LA ex]

Just heard on radio five that Man City are having a victory parade in Manchester today. Anyone have any idea how it's affecting travel and parking around the Ritz?

[darkanddivine]

No guarantees from me, but I'd be looking at trying to bung your motor in somewhere like this geezer 5 mins from the Ritz. I imagine it will be absolutely rammed in Manc with the parade and there's extra traffic due to roadworks on the Mancy way as it is.

[LA ex]

Well despite my satnav panicking me by randomly adding on them taking off forty minutes onto my journey time made it and got parked with no problems.

Support act finished with a nice song about cheese.

[LA ex]

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!)

[mishima]

Originally Posted by LA ex

I was lucky enough to see them at Dundee Caird Hall on the first leg of the TIMTMMY tour,

I was at that Caird Hall gig. I mainly remember it for the scariest B&B I have ever stayed in. It had something of the Bates Motel about. Fortunately it was full of equally freaked Manics fans so we could at least be unsettled together!!

Also going to the York gig on Monday. Only other gig I have seen at the Barbican previously was Rufus Wainwright. We arrived late and tipsy, really must not do that on Monday.

[Glasnost]

Originally Posted by mishima

I was at that Caird Hall gig.

Me too.