Every band has landmark shows that the mere mention of brings a warm glowing feeling to fans, whether they were there in person to witness them or not. For the Manic Street Preachers, as they draw close to celebrating their fortieth anniversary, this is already a bulky list – Glastonbury ’94, Nynex Arena, Manic Millennium, Cuba, The National Treasures Show … but as soon as the band were announced to be performing at the Royal Albert Hall as part of 2026’s Teenage Cancer Trust concerts I had a strong feeling that a new concert would be added to the list.
My only previous visit to the Royal Albert Hall to see Pulp back in 2012 (reviewed here) still ranks as one of my all time personal favourite concerts, both for the performance by Jarvis Cocker and Co but for the sense of it taking place somewhere that little bit special and historic. Asides from the venue, the fact the Manics were outside of an album release cycle and with no other UK shows announced there was a sense (or was it just a hope?) that the band could use this as an excuse to dig into their fifteen album back catalogue and dig out a few rarities to make it a truly unforgettable evening.
Having supported the Manics back on their 2011 mini tour, The Joy Formidable reprised their role as openers, delivering a powerful set focused on their debut album The Big Roar. A blistering Whirring, complete with what must be one of very few uses of a musical saw on the illustrious stage capped an enchanting performance, although disappointingly far too many of the crowd were far more interested in what was on their mobile phones than giving the band a proper chance. Once upon a time crowds at Manics gigs were known for their hostility to support acts, now they sadly seem to be greeted with indifference.
Striding on stage just before nine, now traditional set opener Motorcycle Emptiness started fittingly with the extended orchestral introduction before James kicked into the song’s iconic lead riff. Whilst more vocal lines were left to the audience than usual (James later apologising that a recent bout of the flu left him struggling to hit some of the high notes) this was made up by the latest adaptation of the song’s climatic guitar solo. Recent years have seen James building new guitar parts into plenty of Manics live staples, a theme that continued throughout the evening.
From there two slightly surprising additions to the set list; neither Futurology nor Roses in the Hospital had received live airings in over a decade but both received rapturous welcomes. One can only imagine the reaction that some of the more reserved patrons of the Royal Albert Hall would have at seeing the crowd in their beloved venue chanting “We don’t want your f*cking love” in unison. After a subsequent run through a handful of set list regulars, a cover of The Cure‘s Close to Me, dedicated to this year’s TCT curator Robert Smith, proved to be a moment of playfulness in the evening. However, with covers of Echo and the Bunnymen and The The also thrown in later in the night, the only grumble in what otherwise was a perfectly compiled setlist was that a band with such a rich back catalogue should have been focusing on their own original material. That said, Nicky’s take on Here Come the Dancing Horses felt more like peak Ian McCulloch than Ian McCulloch managed when I saw him a month ago.
As befitting the venue one of the more magical moments of the evening came about due to the unique visuals of the building. Halfway through Hiding Through Plain Sight, with Nicky taking lead vocals for the only time of the evening, the giant mirror ball in the ceiling was lit up beautifully illuminating the band and the hall. Those in the standing area may have been completely oblivious to the spectacle above, but from my prestige position at the seats at the back of the venue the view was utterly magnificent. Throughout the show the visuals were designed perfectly, never distracting from the show but complementing what was taking place on stage.
The musical treats kept coming; A Design for Life sounded energised as it tapped into the last night of the proms legacy of the building, James’ acoustic rendition of Everything Must Go matching the song’s bombastic chorus with delicate guitar playing and The Everlasting sounding like the power ballad behemoth you feel the band always intended it to be. It was the arrival of Condemned to Rock n Roll from debut album Generation Terrorists though that pleased the diehards the most. Performed in its entirety for just the fifth time in the band’s history, the gusto with which James attacked the song’s incendiary guitar solo outro more than made up for the song’s iconic “Oblivion’s all we knowwww!” line being omitted, with Nicky becoming the most animated he was all night as the song built to its crescendo.
A heartfelt tribute to Richey preceded penultimate song of the night You Love Us, the band showing that whilst they may not touch on the heavier songs at their disposal as much as they once did, when they do they can still rock out with the best of them. Finale If You Tolerate This Your Children will be Next proved a fitting finale to a fantastic evening, complete with glitter canons and call and response sections for the song’s outro. Whilst it will take a little way for emotions to settle down, what was my thirty fourth Manics show has immediately catapulted up towards the higher echelons of my personal favourites.
Even for a band of the Manics’ vast experience you can imagine that there will be the occasional moment when the prestige of the moment can threaten to engulf them, but instead they dealt what felt like an almost perfectly curated set; enough well known hits to keep the casual fans happy, enough rarities to keep the diehards smiling, a sense of looking forward as well as back. With 2026 marking the fortieth anniversary of the formation of the band the show proved a fitting start to celebrations of that landmark, with hopefully more to come as the year progresses.
Were you at the Royal Albert Hall to see the Manics perform? Where do you feel it sits in their legacy concerts? Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below and subscribe to this blog for more live gig reviews.
Manic Street Preachers performed:
Motorcycle Emptiness
Futurology
Roses in the Hospital
You Stole the Sun From My Heart
Decline & Fall
Ocean Spray
Close to Me
La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)
This is Yesterday
Hiding in Plain Sight
The Secret He Had Missed
A Design for Life
This Sullen Welsh Heart (Acoustic)
Everything Must Go (Acoustic)
The Everlasting
Condemned to Rock ‘n’ Roll
Your Love Alone is Not Enough
This Is the Day
From Despair to Where
My Little Empire
You Love Us
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Alex Reviews Gigs 
Leave a comment