17/12/11 - 02 Arena, London Gig News

[Karen]

Originally Posted by magicalbertie

I'd like to second this, Shug was lovely!


This was why I got a t shirt as soon as I walked into the arena at 5ish

I also bought my t-shirts when I arrived at the venue. I bought my mug when I left the gig.

[relic]

Originally Posted by LoveMeToDeath

according to twitter it sounds like nicky is bored already...lol

He'll be on Facebook before you know it.

[Karen]

Originally Posted by Littlesue

I saw Simon Price with his ridiculous horns, does he have a new even younger girlfriend?

Apparently he was stood near me before the gig, but thankfully I didn't see him.

[Karen]

Originally Posted by comradestripe

So Why So Sad, Life Becoming a Landslide and She is Suffering sounding a bit shit.

I agree - those 3 songs sounded lacklustre. So Why So Shite more like.

[Karen]

Originally Posted by The Gutless Wonder

Just watched the a vid taken of She Is Suffering and it sounded fab to me!

STOP SLAGGING OFF LIFEBLOOD!!!

Trust me, it sounded shite at the gig. One of those songs that fell flat/didn't quite work.

[hummingbird]

I took pics during she is suffering and autumnsong. Was bored by both

[Karen]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

i'm late to the party but last night was fucking fabulous..mirrorball..pink trees..james in a sailor top..nicky in a dress...glitter..tickertape..screens...oh and the songs were pretty good too

Stuart Maconie was sat two rows infront of me which was a bit of a surprise. I thought these celeb types would be well away from us riffraff or isn't he famous enough? Saw simon price aswell when i went to the loo in the break. Purple mohican thing this time.
I took loads of photos despite being in the seats and they came out GREAT.. bit grainy cos it was on maximum zoom but i'm thrilled with them. Even managed to get one of a smiley Nicky. Cheated on some and took pics of the big screen.

As for the songs ..loved the way nixon sounded and Gryff singing Robeson was brilliant. James joining in kinda spoiled it! I really liked Revol too tho that was probably helped by massive crowd participation halfway through. The trumpet was SO much better than a saxaphone during ocean spray and kevin carter.

anyone put off by the seats at the o2 really don't need to be. I've been to 4 gigs there and at all of them everyone stood up. The seats are roomy and theres loads of room to stand and have a dance. It was great to be able to take pics without having heads in the way and being jostled. When i saw the manics at wembley arena in 2002 if you stood up you felt hemmed in and unable to move as the step the seats were on was too narrow. No idea if they're like that now they've refurbed it but it's much better at the o2. I didnt feel detached from the gig at all. Obviously i can understand if people prefer to stand but if its a case of take a seat or don't go then for heavens sake GET A SEAT !

Glad to hear that the seats were ok. Occasionally I glanced at the seats, and there didn't seem to be much of an atmosphere. There were the odd few fans dancing along, but I guess most people were conscious of those behind them and didn't want to block their view.

A mate of mine was in the seats and thinks she saw Nicky's parents, as well as Mylene and James' dad sat a couple of rows in front.

[Karen]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

i caved in and bought some merch. No willpower wotsoever..tote bag..white band tshirt and a keyring. I liked the culture alienation..one but i'm too old to wear that. Wanted a mug too but inexplicably they said they'd only sell them after the gig. Was this for health and safety? Unsurprisingly they'd sold out by the time i got there.. £30 on ebay then

I didnt wear my leopard print coat..I'm still too protective of it as its brand new. Didn't want some git spilling beer all over it! I did have a leopard print scarf and gloves tho so i was a bit manics fanlike. Spotted some great outfits

I'm 37 and I got the Culture Alienation shirt. I say, you're never too old, !

With regards to the mugs, I think the reason they didn't sell them before the gig, was to prevent the risk of them getting broken during the gig. I was one of the lucky ones who got a mug after the gig.

[hummingbird]

Originally Posted by Karen

Glad to hear that the seats were ok. Occasionally I glanced at the seats, and there didn't seem to be much of an atmosphere. There were the odd few fans dancing along, but I guess most people were conscious of those behind them and didn't want to block their view.

A mate of mine was in the seats and thinks she saw Nicky's parents, as well as Mylene and James' dad sat a couple of rows in front.

Oooh cool. I wouldntve realised it was them. Beats stuart maconie ! lol

[hummingbird]

Originally Posted by Karen

I'm 37 and I got the Culture Alienation shirt. I say, you're never too old, !

With regards to the mugs, I think the reason they didn't sell them before the gig, was to prevent the risk of them getting broken during the gig. I was one of the lucky ones who got a mug after the gig.

Oh i know ..i'm just too self conscious sometimes. Well done on getting a mug tho leaving early is cheating ha ha

[Karen]

Originally Posted by Abstract Unknown Girl

Well, they pulled it off It's weird because obviously I'd known about this gig for several months and knew I was going, but it didn't seem real until it was actually happening; it just seemed like this far away event that was never really going to materialise for some reason. But I thoroughly enjoyed it all, even the songs I don't normally care for seemed more bearable this time.

Particular highlights for me were TBTGOG, TLORN, Revol and well, it was nice to hear the few tracks I'd never heard live before, including So Why So Sad and Love's Sweet Exile (even though I don't really like LSE under normal circumstances). TBTGOG sounded massive; I really don't know why the band don't rate that song and TLORN sounded better this time around than on the Lifeblood tour. The duet with Gruff Rhys on Let Robeson Sing was better than I thought it'd be and Nina on YLAINE was nice too. I thought there should have been more special guests overall though, but oh well, it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

The second half was much better than the first; they definitely saved the best for last and seemed like they were trying to get certain songs out the way as quick as possible (LSE at least, anyway ). So Why So Sad was....weird (not altogether bad, just a bit odd, especially the Rolf Harris stylophone part). I loved James' comment saying something like "Yeah, I'm still not sure if you like that one or not" afterwards.

Still not a fan of certain backing vocals, especially on Slash N Burn...not only does it sound horrible, they also were the wrong lines (I definitely heard 'Live to kill, kill for kicks', instead of 'Kill to live, kill for kicks'). And cowbells should be banned from Manics gigs.

Loved James' sailor top and I must say I had a bit of a moment when he came out in that I wasn't expecting him to wear anything other than a plain, black shirt (although he did default back to that after the interval, but still I commend him for making the effort). I liked the Star Wars patch on one of Nicky's jackets too and the stage looked very pretty. It was a shame some of the videos on the screen were out of sync slightly at times (especially during Faster), but overall they were a nice touch...although not during Autumnsong, when all it did was remind me what an horrendously embarrassing video that was

I also found myself getting really emotional at unexpected moments, during songs that don't really usually get to me. I don't know if it was just the occasion, or nostalgia about my time as a Manics fan over the years, or just the fact that I've been through all sorts of various life stuff in that time, but I teared up a few times. I thought I might be like that for ADFL, but that was just euphoric really, especially with the confetti raining down, doing extreme shouty pointy and Nicky's bass trashing. I know people wanted them to end on something different, but ADFL seemed very fitting to me.

I'd also like to echo Nicky's praise of James for remembering all the words. I felt so proud of him and the man is just a legend as far as I'm concerned. His voice held up well too and sounded much better than it has done on recent tours. I know he missed out a few more lines than usual, but that's to be expected given the length of the setlist and the crowd were in strong voice to sing instead anyway. It was quite something hearing the entire arena shout "Why don't you just FUCK OFF?!!!" all at once. There was some great banter between James and Nicky too. I overheard someone complaining afterwards on the way out that there wasn't enough crowd interaction, but I thought there was enough, especially considering how many songs they had to get through by 11pm.

I was absolutely KNACKERED afterwards and not sure how I made it back to the hotel on the tube/DLR, as I felt like a walking zombie by that point, but it was all worth it. I'm glad the band are going to take a bit of a break, but this was a great way to draw a line under things for the time being. I just hope they come back with something bold and different in a couple of years' time, as there definitely still seems to be a lot of love for them, more than they probably thought when they set out to do this gig.

Not sure why so many are convinced the gig was being filmed for a DVD...it just seemed to be filmed for the big screens as far as I could see. Yeah there were cameras on all band members and one or two on the crowd, but there were no crane cameras and barely any cameras lingering over the front of the crowd. I've been at other gigs that have been filmed and there was definitely far more equipment in place than there was last night. It is a missed opportunity if they have no official footage of it to put out there in some format though.

Don't want to dwell on the negative too much, but I'd also like to dedicate a particular line from Stay Beautiful to the O2 security staff for basically accusing me of stealing my boyfriend's wallet (not going to clog this thread up with that story, but I've already ranted about it here). Absolute fucking CUNTFACES and make no mistake, I will be writing a very strongly worded letter of complaint to them tomorrow.



You should have pestered security afterwards for stubs. We came out afterwards near entrance B, but got told to go all the way round to F to get stubs, at F we got told to go back to B! Once back at B, they tried to tell us they'd all gone again, but another woman was complaining saying how all 5,000 stubs can't possibly have gone and that they said before doors we could have them back afterwards, so after a bit of faffing around, they magically found some more stubs from somewhere. Considering how the O2 put on gigs all the time, I still find it staggering how thick and shit they are when it comes to things like this.



There were some right knobbers in the queue full stop...specifically the ones who pushed in, then one of the girls who let them all in threw a massive hissy fit just before doors opened raving about others who had pushed in, and she was apparently going to punch people (but didn't). We went in front of them all early in the day, because there must have been about 15 odd people who just appeared part way through the morning. Some of them had seats and pissed off before doors, but there were definitely plenty of queue jumpers still there. I don't really care about the odd person here or there, as that's bound to happen, but this was a significant amount of people and I wasn't going to let them get away with it. So, if any of these aforementioned people are reading this, if you let all your mates queue jump, don't be surprised when those who've been there longer don't take kindly to it.



We saw him after the gig as well, by that music experience thing outside the arena. I've somehow managed to never see him at Manics gigs before, even though he's apparently always there (yes, I realise he's hard to miss).

I've just read what happened. That's disgusting. If that had happened to me, I would also be sending a very strongly worded letter of complaint.

[m0drnmoonlight]

Watched the videos uploaded to youtube. Revol sounded AMAZING! I agree with everyone else - what does the band have against that song? It sounded so good and the crowd went nuts!

And as much as they hate doing Love's Sweet Exile and I know it isn't the best song they've ever done, I thought it didn't sound horrible. James nailed the guitar solo, though I guess that could be said for everything heh.

Also recognizing Suicide is Painless for sounding amazing. Everyone who went got a great show!

[Dancing Kirby]

The video was badly synced for Faster because Jimbo came in with his vocal too early.

[sim]

I had so much fun on Saturday. I was hoarse from singing and shouting. Pleased to see there was a lot of love for Sean.

I didn't have my ticket taken away from me though. Am I in the minority then?

Who was the dude in black walking around me trying to read my (Marlon JD quote) spraypaint shirt?

[Takk]

Originally Posted by mafiamonroe

Did you cop a fell while they were asleep?

Come on, a few decades too old