No Manifesto Reviews Thread

[Red]

Originally Posted by UEF

Could someone please record the Q&As they go to?

Kurt filmed the one in Manchester. Maybe they'll release it to their Facebook.

[everlasting]

Very weird indeed the Manics haven't supported this at all, not even a mention on the official site or Facebook. Very sad and disappointing.

[relic]

I can't wait to get my own copy. I think what I enjoyed most was the nostalgia, seeing so many venues and gigs that I was at, seeing my friends in the film, and seeing some of Nicky's costume choices all over again.

[amaitheanhorn]

I was at the Cornerhouse last night and really enjoyed the show and Q&A. I found myself grinning through most of it and I felt feeling quite warm and fuzzy!

Sadly I didn't stay for the after party as I had a massive headache all night. I hope that everyone else who attended had a great time!

[Little Troll]

I've cancelled my Amazon pre-order and re-ordered it directly from the No Manifesto website instead based on the posts on page 1.

I'm really sad that I can't make any of the screenings. I went to the one in London in 2012 and it was such a great atmosphere watching it with fellow fans. I hope you all have a great time

[Red]

Another Cornerhouse viewer here. Ace stuff. My quick (edit: prolonged rambling) review, by concensus of my Manics mate and me.

The Venue
Really nice. Neither of us had been to the Cornerhouse before, and we'd kinda thought that it'd maybe be like Edinburgh's Filmhouse and a bit small and indie-ish, but it was actually really impressive. Loved the beer selection, and the cinema auditorium for the film's showing was unexpectedly huge, and very swish. Out of curiosity, does anyone know why The Cornerhouse was picked for the venue?

PPF gig footage
Brought back a lot of memories. I think I clocked at least six FDers in it (including at least two of the people who appear in this old photo from Edinburgh), and hearing that version of Archives Of Pain again was great. After seeing James play the opening verse unaccompanied acoustic on the previous tour, seeing him doing the same again but with that flying V and then having the full band join him for the second verse made me squeal like a little girl. It brought that memory back nicely. Fun times, revisited nicely.

No Manifesto
Dear god, have we waited a long time for this. It was with some tremendous relief that it turned out to be great. Some reservations about the format aside (it really does feel much more like a montage than a story, which I'm not sure about), it does everything I'd hoped it would do. I'm the sort of Manics nerd who instantly recognised Elizabeth's "in the immortal words of James Dean Bradfield..." quote as being from the Tsunami relief concert right before they launched into Motorcycle Emptiness (swiftly followed by the BBC running an apology for all the naughty words), and from that sort of obsessive level, I felt like I learned a lot from it. I felt satisfied in a way no other Manics documentary has really achieved for me. My mate felt the same.

What did we like? We liked the fan interviews. We liked the fact that they picked people who illustrated the spectrum of obsessive Manics fans all the way from excitable teenage girls with hamsters named after Nicky and Sean to proper manly men. We liked the insights into the Manics creative process. Seeing James and Sean working on what I assume to be the Loveletter To The Future demo was captivating, and something I'd always wondered about, but never seen before. We liked seeing them working on songs, trying to construct bits for songs like Imperial Bodybags. Cool seeing James getting frustrated with himself for fucking up the fairly simple bit of Imperial Bodybags and relieving the anger by knocking out the Motown Junk intro, too. I didn't realise other guitarists did that too. I liked the nostalgia of seeing old FDers, like that photo of Ben Grubb with Nicky and the yellow eyeliner. Liked seeing the human side of the Manics all of that, too.

I could go on, but there was so much crammed into the film that it'd be impossible to list all the bits or moments that made me laugh, smile, or learn. I wish it could've had more in it, and there was nothing in it I wish they'd taken out. As Elizabeth (or possibly Kurt) rightly said to the woman at the Q&A bemoaning the lack of political discussion in the film though, there only are 96 minutes to fill.

Ultimately, I suppose the big question is, nevermind what it means to the die-hards: Will casuals or kafir see it, or want to see it, and then be enticed enough to want to learn or hear more? I'm not sure. It's not the Anvil documentary. It doesn't push that emotional struggle narrative, and won't turn the Manics into everyone's new favourite band, or itself become an international breakthrough. It is, however, perhaps the perfect Manics documentary in its patchwork design and the little seeds of intrigue it lays throughout. Every Manics gig you go to, you've always got the distinct die-hards. Some have been there from the start. Some got into them with Design For Life, some with Tolerate, nobody got into them with Know Your Enemy, some with SATT, and so on. Maybe the next tour will have a whole new clan of people who got into them from No Manifesto. Hope so.

Q&A
It was both of our first times being at one of these things. Kudos to everyone who asked a question, and to Elizabeth and Kurt for giving answers that were interesting, articulate, and satisfying.

Manic Street Mania Afterparty
I was a little disappointed by this, to be honest. I love what John does, especially his knack for merging or mixing bits of songs. I used to love downloading his mixtapes back when he used to share them, and getting that consistent intertwining of "ooh, good choice" and "what is this? ... Oh, fuck, awesome", and I've really wanted to go to a MSM night for a long, long time. On the night, the music was great, but the vibe just wasn't really there. We'd kinda expected it to be a party sort of an afterparty with Manics fans all dancing around or mingling or whatever, but none of that seemed to be happening. It wasn't a gathering, but a lot of small groups, many of whom left relatively early anyway. I know perhaps our expectations were different to those of everyone else, and our own social awkwardnesses are by all means to blame for us not reaching out more, but it just felt like a bit of a let down. Still definitely glad we went, though.

Overall, a point my mate and I realised shortly before boarding our train back to Edinburgh, was that, looking at it in the cold sobriety of day, he and I had booked a day off work, spent the best part of £300, traveled some 600 miles, and given up a weekend and a saturday night partying just to watch a documentary. Worth it, though.

[NoManifestoFilm]

The film screened at Cornerhouse because the programme director there is a Manics fan, and as soon as we announced last summer that plans for a release were being made, she contacted us and asked to book the film.

[hillgrove]

Originally Posted by Red

Another Cornerhouse viewer here. Ace stuff. My quick (edit: prolonged rambling) review, by concensus of my Manics mate and me.

The Venue
Really nice. Neither of us had been to the Cornerhouse before, and we'd kinda thought that it'd maybe be like Edinburgh's Filmhouse and a bit small and indie-ish, but it was actually really impressive. Loved the beer selection, and the cinema auditorium for the film's showing was unexpectedly huge, and very swish. Out of curiosity, does anyone know why The Cornerhouse was picked for the venue?

PPF gig footage
Brought back a lot of memories. I think I clocked at least six FDers in it (including at least two of the people who appear in this old photo from Edinburgh), and hearing that version of Archives Of Pain again was great. After seeing James play the opening verse unaccompanied acoustic on the previous tour, seeing him doing the same again but with that flying V and then having the full band join him for the second verse made me squeal like a little girl. It brought that memory back nicely. Fun times, revisited nicely.

No Manifesto
Dear god, have we waited a long time for this. It was with some tremendous relief that it turned out to be great. Some reservations about the format aside (it really does feel much more like a montage than a story, which I'm not sure about), it does everything I'd hoped it would do. I'm the sort of Manics nerd who instantly recognised Elizabeth's "in the immortal words of James Dean Bradfield..." quote as being from the Tsunami relief concert right before they launched into Motorcycle Emptiness (swiftly followed by the BBC running an apology for all the naughty words), and from that sort of obsessive level, I felt like I learned a lot from it. I felt satisfied in a way no other Manics documentary has really achieved for me. My mate felt the same.

What did we like? We liked the fan interviews. We liked the fact that they picked people who illustrated the spectrum of obsessive Manics fans all the way from excitable teenage girls with hamsters named after Nicky and Sean to proper manly men. We liked the insights into the Manics creative process. Seeing James and Sean working on what I assume to be the Loveletter To The Future demo was captivating, and something I'd always wondered about, but never seen before. We liked seeing them working on songs, trying to construct bits for songs like Imperial Bodybags. Cool seeing James getting frustrated with himself for fucking up the fairly simple bit of Imperial Bodybags and relieving the anger by knocking out the Motown Junk intro, too. I didn't realise other guitarists did that too. I liked the nostalgia of seeing old FDers, like that photo of Ben Grubb with Nicky and the yellow eyeliner. Liked seeing the human side of the Manics all of that, too.

I could go on, but there was so much crammed into the film that it'd be impossible to list all the bits or moments that made me laugh, smile, or learn. I wish it could've had more in it, and there was nothing in it I wish they'd taken out. As Elizabeth (or possibly Kurt) rightly said to the woman at the Q&A bemoaning the lack of political discussion in the film though, there only are 96 minutes to fill.

Ultimately, I suppose the big question is, nevermind what it means to the die-hards: Will casuals or kafir see it, or want to see it, and then be enticed enough to want to learn or hear more? I'm not sure. It's not the Anvil documentary. It doesn't push that emotional struggle narrative, and won't turn the Manics into everyone's new favourite band, or itself become an international breakthrough. It is, however, perhaps the perfect Manics documentary in its patchwork design and the little seeds of intrigue it lays throughout. Every Manics gig you go to, you've always got the distinct die-hards. Some have been there from the start. Some got into them with Design For Life, some with Tolerate, nobody got into them with Know Your Enemy, some with SATT, and so on. Maybe the next tour will have a whole new clan of people who got into them from No Manifesto. Hope so.

Q&A
It was both of our first times being at one of these things. Kudos to everyone who asked a question, and to Elizabeth and Kurt for giving answers that were interesting, articulate, and satisfying.

Manic Street Mania Afterparty
I was a little disappointed by this, to be honest. I love what John does, especially his knack for merging or mixing bits of songs. I used to love downloading his mixtapes back when he used to share them, and getting that consistent intertwining of "ooh, good choice" and "what is this? ... Oh, fuck, awesome", and I've really wanted to go to a MSM night for a long, long time. On the night, the music was great, but the vibe just wasn't really there. We'd kinda expected it to be a party sort of an afterparty with Manics fans all dancing around or mingling or whatever, but none of that seemed to be happening. It wasn't a gathering, but a lot of small groups, many of whom left relatively early anyway. I know perhaps our expectations were different to those of everyone else, and our own social awkwardnesses are by all means to blame for us not reaching out more, but it just felt like a bit of a let down. Still definitely glad we went, though.

Overall, a point my mate and I realised shortly before boarding our train back to Edinburgh, was that, looking at it in the cold sobriety of day, he and I had booked a day off work, spent the best part of £300, traveled some 600 miles, and given up a weekend and a saturday night partying just to watch a documentary. Worth it, though.

Bluddy ell,you travelled a long way,i went to Cornerhouse as well,really enjoyed it,are you going to any of the gigs in May/June,?

[Red]

Originally Posted by NoManifestoFilm

The film screened at Cornerhouse because the programme director there is a Manics fan, and as soon as we announced last summer that plans for a release were being made, she contacted us and asked to book the film.

Nice. We did wonder. One theory was that Heavenly are based in Manchester and there was maybe a connection there, another was that it'd be just a convenient location (one southern showing, one northern), another was that there was maybe a huge Manics fanbase already in Manchester (it was, after all, the host of the Nynex gig that became Everything Live), but my favourite was the idea that maybe it was just the product of a massive Manics fan, who happened to have cinema. Makes me smile that that's the one if turned out to be.

Btw, any odds on you doing more Q&As? It really added a lot to the experience.

[NoManifestoFilm]

Originally Posted by Red

Nice. We did wonder. One theory was that Heavenly are based in Manchester and there was maybe a connection there, another was that it'd be just a convenient location (one southern showing, one northern), another was that there was maybe a huge Manics fanbase already in Manchester (it was, after all, the host of the Nynex gig that became Everything Live), but my favourite was the idea that maybe it was just the product of a massive Manics fan, who happened to have cinema. Makes me smile that that's the one if turned out to be.

Btw, any odds on you doing more Q&As? It really added a lot to the experience.

Glad you enjoyed it! We're doing Q&As at the Prince Charles Cinema tonight in London, at the Broadway tomorrow in Nottingham, and then one Wednesday in London at the Curzon Soho, and we'll be posting a Q&A "Best Of" on Facebook in the coming weeks.

[everlasting]

Cool reviews so far, looking forward to seeing the Q&A videos too!

[Red]

Originally Posted by hillgrove

Bluddy ell,you travelled a long way,i went to Cornerhouse as well,really enjoyed it,are you going to any of the gigs in May/June,?

Oh aye, it was a bit of a trek to get there. Seems we weren't the only ones to do it, though - we spied another couple of folk from the night getting on and off the same train as us on the way back to Edinburgh. Respectful nod to you, whoever you are.


Doesn't look like it, unfortunately. I tried getting tickets for the Edinburgh Usher Hall gig, but it sold out. I'll try hunting around these parts for any spares, or failing that, do the by-no-means humiliating queue beg, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope, with it being such a small venue and unique performance. Still, fingers crossed and all that.

[UEF]

Originally Posted by Red

Manic Street Mania Afterparty
I was a little disappointed by this, to be honest. I love what John does, especially his knack for merging or mixing bits of songs. I used to love downloading his mixtapes back when he used to share them, and getting that consistent intertwining of "ooh, good choice" and "what is this? ... Oh, fuck, awesome", and I've really wanted to go to a MSM night for a long, long time. On the night, the music was great, but the vibe just wasn't really there. We'd kinda expected it to be a party sort of an afterparty with Manics fans all dancing around or mingling or whatever, but none of that seemed to be happening. It wasn't a gathering, but a lot of small groups, many of whom left relatively early anyway. I know perhaps our expectations were different to those of everyone else, and our own social awkwardnesses are by all means to blame for us not reaching out more, but it just felt like a bit of a let down. Still definitely glad we went, though.

Unfortunately, it's been remarked upon here before that a lot of Manics fans have terrible social skills. You'd think that having this rare obsession would be an enormous conversational icebreaker wouldn't you? Nope.

[UEF]

My thoughts:

It was great to see the film again. I was lucky enough to have seen the earlier showing at Brick Lane a few years ago and did fear that that might've been for the last time!. SO glad it's out.

• Flow - it did strike me as a bit of a patchwork quilt rather than a linear narrative. I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing - Simon Price's Everything book does the same thing. When watching it, I tried to put myself in the mind of viewer new to the Manics: would this pique my interest sufficiently to become inquisitive (and feel entertained)? The answer's probably yes
• I wish they'd done a bit more 'treatment' on the JFPL segments - the screenshots of news articles looked too bare, too ungraded - it all went a bit 'Powerpoint' for me at that moment
• I LOVED the cartoons! (though again it went a bit 'rough' during the Nicky Wire wagging-mouth bit
• This may be a controversial one but I don't think the fans come across well. They (we) often came across very awkwardly, and suffered for lack of makeup and lighting. On a HD screen that's not forgiving!
• A little more time could've been spent on detailling the different feels offered by each album
• Putting aside the intro, the film proper seemed oddly reduced in musical content. Off the top of my head I can only think of a couple of songs that were played. The choice to examine the interpersonal relationships of the band and their hobbies is laudible, but it risks alienating an easy win from more musical would-be fans
• James's underrated status as a guitar hero went without mention
• We love you and please do more stuff
• Looking forward to the DVD

And - very much not a part of the film, but fans very conspicuously going "HA-HA" at every 'in joke', please stop...

[everlasting]

UEF what do you mean, can you please explain more detail about the James guitar hero part and what is said or shown?
Is Nixon played at all during the film either live or the music video, etc? Speaking of music, is it ALL live or is there actual recordings / music video footage in there?
What and how does the Nicky in his garden scene fit into things? Thanks.