12/05/19 Dublin Olympia

[starfucker]

Still no Nobody Loved You though...

[The Crow]

Why would they omit it?

[MoMoney MoJunk]

That was great. First time I've seen them since The Holy Bible gig about 5 years ago so I was always going to enjoy it.

Black Dog sounded groovy and fun, Prologue was brilliant, and Born A Girl deserves a lot more outings. Funny, James said before I'm Not Working that maybe there was a reason they'd never played it live before (gonna need stats nerds to confirm) but again, it sounded full, heavy and probably much worthier of more live shows. My Little Empire was a bit of a dud and for some reason, maybe it was just were I was seated, but playing Tolerate at the end of the album slot didn't really work? Someone else might think differently!

They were in good spirits though which was great and International Blue should be a permanent fixture. Little bit sad JDB is taking more of a backseat with an extra guitar on stage but I'll get over it!

All in all really enjoyable.

Edit - forgot to mention that even You Stole The Sun was brilliant.

[blackflower]

I think the set list looks pretty good. Something from GATS and something from Lifeblood! Excited for Shepherds Bush now

The omission of NLY is the kind of thing that makes me glad it’s possible to know the set list in advance. I’d hate to be at the gig feeling disappointed that they didn’t play it - I’d rather get my disappointment over and done with before I’m even there. Looking forward to Prologue in any case!

[IrelandCalling4]

Enjoyed every single minute of that gig, for me it was magical. Just to hear them play those atmospheric tracks from TIMT was wonderful. The crowd around me silenced really as they obviously didnt know the non hits from the album, roaring back to life from IYTT onwards. I wonder how the band saw it; as a music fan, whethet knowing the songs or not (I only really listened fully to TIMT from December), the band played them brilliantly and some came off even better than I thought they would. I'm Not Working and Be Natural were huge and atmospheric. Born a Girl was surprisingly poignant even among crowd who werent familiar.

For me, highlights from second half definitely Sleepflower, and, one of my favourite all time melodies - Solitude Sometimes Is. Amazing.

[tiger]

Don’t think I’ve ever been to a full, non-Festival Manics gig with no JDB acoustic slot. Nor ever seen full band versions of The Everlasting & Black Dog.
Most looking forward to Be Natural & Solitude... least looking forward to YLA again. I’m sure that’s not likely to be dropped by the time Edinburgh comes around... my guess is People Give In and Solitude will be the likely contenders to be switched for something else on other nights...which will be a shame.

[cameron33]

Enjoyed the gig. Haven't been to one for nearly a decade. Was surprised by how old everyone was! Bit of a shame there were so few under 20 or even 30 there - seems they've not been picking up many new fans, or perhaps they have but they can't compete with the oldies when it comes to snaffling tickets. 55euro isn't cheap when you're young and struggling to pay rent in somewhere like Dublin (there's another big housing protest coming up in Dublin, people face eyewatering rents/houseprices here).
Anyway, most of the album was great. Awesome mass singalongs for the singles. None really fell flat, although I'd agree that My Little Empire wasn't a highlight - too many guitars in the mix perhaps. It surely works better scaled right back. The other songs were great, but could have done with either a short break or a JDB acoustic solo intermission. Would have preferred a short break after they finished TIMT to take it all in and then have them come back on for another set, but I guess its a long album and they finished about 10:45 so were working with time constraints.
I also prefer the band as a three/four piece but, hey, they're getting on and its probably the right choice as it frees up JDB to relax and focus on the important vocals/guitar bits when needed. String section or some such would have been nice for a bit of tonal variety rather than just guitars, guitars, guitars, mind.

[Routine Builder]

What were the on stage / off stage times?

[cameron33]

Support was on at 7:45 and played for about half an hour. Manics came on at about 9ish and finished about 10:45.

[Routine Builder]

Ta

[cameron33]

Of the album the highlights for me were Everlasting, You Stole the Sun, and Be Natural. Those all sounded awesome. I prefer more scale backed/acoustic versions of Ready for Drowning and My Little Empire, rather than the full band assault they gave it last night. SYMM was very moving given events since release, and the guitar solo sounded great. James seemed on good form and seemed to be really enjoying it but Nicky was quite subdued and quiet, but I haven't seen them for so long, so maybe thats his normal now.

[The Crow]

To omit any song from an LP is very poor when you are allegedly playing it outright. It's irrelevant if the song is good or not he should be played Live.

The amount of times they've played YSTSFMH they never omitted it and I'm sick to death of it, like many

[manic marios]

Any merch photos?

[sculptureofabloke]

Originally Posted by The Crow

To omit any song from an LP is very poor when you are allegedly playing it outright. It's irrelevant if the song is good or not he should be played Live.

The amount of times they've played YSTSFMH they never omitted it and I'm sick to death of it, like many

I don't get it either. I get that there are certain songs they've written that they're uncomfortable with for one reason or another, whether it's the sentiment or lyrical content of the song or whether they're embarrassed by the song or just plain don't like it - whatever. Still, there are plenty of artists out there who are worse for whitewashing not only certain songs but whole eras than Manics are. And I think Manics have more reason to really, wouldn't have blamed them if they'd never touched The Holy Bible again after Richey's disappearance. But they did, all of it.

So this is their 5th rereleased album and 4th album tour if we count Journal. Can't see that getting anniversary treatment but it'd be nice if they at least gave it a nod on the tour with a song or two.. Was surprised when they did the Underdogs/Welcome To The Dead Zone switcheroo on Send Away The Tigers. Much prefer Welcome To The Dead Zone but doesn't feel right, well it won't when you're so used to the original running order. No album gigs but at least they gave Indian Summer and Send Away The Tigers a dust off in the summer. Been to a fair few album gigs, heard of a few where they've mixed the album up in the set to take away the predictability but don't ever recall hearing of an album tour announced and advertised everywhere as "playing the album in full and much more" without playing the album in full...

[roi]

They can’t leave that running order alone can they, putting Tolerate at the end here. Though I get that it probably works better as a set closer after SYMM.

Yeah, Solitude Sometimes Is and People Give In seem like logical ones to swap for something else as the tour goes on.