What choo talkin' 'bout, Wire?

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

Originally Posted by Archivesoftherevollover

nice one

You know I'm right, Paul.

[Archivesoftherevollover]

Originally Posted by FacelessSenseOfVoid

You know I'm right, Paul.

I get your point about the louts but i wouldnt mind if there were new fans coming to the gigs i always like that

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

Originally Posted by Archivesoftherevollover

I get your point about the louts but i wouldnt mind if there were new fans coming to the gigs i always like that

Nothing wrong with that at all, my gripe is mainly with the fuckers that spoil the gigs, just because they want to act hard and wrestle their way to the front and stuff like that - but the band should welcome fans of all generations but not tossers (like you )

[mank]

Originally Posted by FacelessSenseOfVoid

I just think it's a better atmosphere if they played in smaller venues to real fans rather than some to a crowd of 30% hardcore fans and 70% pissed up louts just wanting to hear a big hit so they can sing along whilst punching their way through to the front with their fucked up friends!!!!!

Apologies for that little rant.

I'd prefer it if people who wanted to see the Manics had the chance to do so, instead of the same few hundred people buying tickets for every single gig.

[Archivesoftherevollover]

Originally Posted by FacelessSenseOfVoid

but not tossers (like you )

well ta very much im sure im a loveable tosser

[Finn]

Originally Posted by Karmacy

I still love seeing them live, and have massive respect for them because they DO play their greatest hits, they're not one of those bands that just goes out to play their new album and doesn't give a toss if people are disappointed or not. I have never come away and thought 'that was a bad gig'... maybe some of you need to see them less to appreciate them more again?

I think that's a fair point, but even so, you've got to admit his comment is laughable.

[Takk]

Yeah, my comments are stemming from finding his funny.

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

Originally Posted by mank

I'd prefer it if people who wanted to see the Manics had the chance to do so, instead of the same few hundred people buying tickets for every single gig.

Well there are more than enough dates for people to go and see the band in any location they want now. I don't think the number comes up to a couple of hundred of people attending the whole tour on its own, perhaps that number would barely go into double figures.

[Slideling]

Truest thread ever.

[Hans]

Originally Posted by mank

I'd prefer it if people who wanted to see the Manics had the chance to do so, instead of the same few hundred people buying tickets for every single gig.

BADABING!

[Amanda]

Originally Posted by River Boy

It is annoying that, with EMG being their most successful album and an immense record, it's always the title track - other than ADFL - that's being played. They could literally pick songs out of a hat from that album and the fans would appreciate it, same with THB, but guitarists learn very quickly that the EMG title track is so very easy to play, which suggests a lack of hard work when preparing for gigs, for which reason they're trying to claim the song has a higher status amongst fans than it actually has.

I would actually argue that isn't the case - just from looking at what I've seen them play I've seen EMG far far less (almost half) than I've seen ADFL like they never played it at all on the Lifeblood tour, never played it on the half I saw of the US tour last year. I've seen EMG 79 times, where as songs like No Surface and Kevin Carter are only just behind on 68 and 60 respectively. Admittedly thats still a lot of plays but it wouldn't even make my top ten most seen songs (and bearing in mind I first saw them EMG tour so if they did always play it I'd have seen it every gig).

Originally Posted by Karmacy

I still love seeing them live, and have massive respect for them because they DO play their greatest hits, they're not one of those bands that just goes out to play their new album and doesn't give a toss if people are disappointed or not. I have never come away and thought 'that was a bad gig'... maybe some of you need to see them less to appreciate them more again?

I would definitely agree with your first statement, as I tend to find what differentiates a great gig from a good gig is the crowd and them being really into it and feeding off the band and vice versa, and theres no denying a lot of people go for the hits.

Its like how songs like You Stole the Sun always get a knocking on here but you go see they always go down amazingly, where as something like 4st7lb I've seen people on here say they would like them to play it but when they did it was just horrible, uncomfortable and a relief when it was over. So I can see it would be a struggle to get that right mix as you need to throw a couple of curios in there but you don't want the gig to be a load of intensely intense chin scratching, needs to be more visceral.

Originally Posted by FacelessSenseOfVoid

Well there are more than enough dates for people to go and see the band in any location they want now. I don't think the number comes up to a couple of hundred of people attending the whole tour on its own, perhaps that number would barely go into double figures.

Actually genuinely doing the whole tour I suspect you could count on one hand - on a smaller tour they may still just make double figures but something like this or SATT May no. There will be quite a lot of people doing say 12/13 dates but more than that not so much so.

[Dancing Kirby]

You can tell James is bored of performing a song when he doesn't bother finishing half the lines or does them in that can't-be-arsed-to-sing-properly whine. Which is most of the setlist these days!

And even on ME he can now only bring himself to sing 'Ego loaded and swallow... wee'.

[allisvanity]

“We literally have so many songs, we’re like the indie Rolling Stones. The set-list gets longer, the choice of songs get harder."

Yet there is always room for You Stole The Sun From My Heart...

[Beat Poet]

Originally Posted by Amanda

Its like how songs like You Stole the Sun always get a knocking on here but you go see they always go down amazingly, where as something like 4st7lb I've seen people on here say they would like them to play it but when they did it was just horrible, uncomfortable and a relief when it was over. So I can see it would be a struggle to get that right mix as you need to throw a couple of curios in there but you don't want the gig to be a load of intensely intense chin scratching, needs to be more visceral.

I totally agree. When I see them I want to go crazy and jump around, and luckily most of my fave songs are the ones that they always play. Their gigs would be a total non-event if they played all album tracks and b-sides, even when they included rare tracks on the PPF tour it all went a bit quiet.

They're pretty much the only band I like who still play loads of old songs and believe me, that is absolute gold dust. I used to whine about the other bands' setlists, so the solution was simple - I don't go and see any of them live anymore.

The band can't win anyway, they're not the type that'll bust out a rare track in soundcheck and stick it in the set for the gig. They'll rehearse 25-30 songs for a tour and pick from those. That tends to mean that any rare songs they decide to include will be played at all or most of the dates, rendering them not rare anymore, so people will still find a reason to complain.

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Beat Poet

The band can't win anyway, they're not the type that'll bust out a rare track in soundcheck and stick it in the set for the gig. They'll rehearse 25-30 songs for a tour and pick from those. That tends to mean that any rare songs they decide to include will be played at all or most of the dates, rendering them not rare anymore, so people will still find a reason to complain.

But surely they could mix those songs up between tours? Now, don't get me wrong, I love hearing the hits. It wouldn't be a Manics gig without Motorcycle Emptiness, A Design For Life, You Stole The Sun From My Heart and a handful of others.

I wonder how hard it would be, for a 20 song set to have, say, 10 staple hits which will always be played (which is fine by me), and then another 6 semi-regular tracks and 6 curios, four of which they drop into the set on rotation throughout the dates.

I reckon they can play A Design For Life etc in their sleep by now, so surely that doesn't need much rehearsing, which frees up more time for them to practice other things.

I'm just thinking out loud here really. Maybe there are logistics which I'm not aware of.