When quite possibly your all time favourite two bands decide to go on a headline tour together it’s definitely a cause for great excitement. Having attended two of the shows in 2024 when Suede and the Manic Street Preachers toured together I decided to go one better this time and attended three – Leeds arena along with the pair at Cardiff (which served as a bucket list moment of seeing the Manics on home territory in Wales three decades after first seeing them live). Each show proved to be riveting in their own way, but at the same time clear stories appeared across the nights. Read on for ten take homes from the tour.
Arena Sized Anthems Ready to Roll Out
Whilst both bands could at various stages of their career laid claim to the title of being the UK’s biggest guitar band, it’s a long time since either of them have played at such vast arenas. Whilst Suede never grew to the size of being arena headliners and the Manics haven’t embarked on a solo tour of them in almost a decade, both bands unfurled a back catalogue of songs that filled up and expanded to fill the chasm sized venues they found themselves in, with the likes of Animal Nitrate and Die in the Summertime causing such vast singalongs you somehow had to pinch yourself to remember exactly what the thronged masses were chanting along to. With some fantastic visuals behind them both groups utilised their decades of experience to give shows worthy of their reputations.
Ten minutes Cut from Set Times makes a Huge Difference to Content
To fit two headline sets into one evening something had to give, with both acts cutting their stage time from the traditional ninety down to eighty minutes. That ten minutes may not sound much, but it did result in a reduction in the number of out and out rarities played by both bands, with well played album tracks from the bands’ most popular albums coming the closest to filling this gap. For Suede, a band famous for mixing up their set lists the lack of classic B-sides was a tiny bit disappointing – one day I’ll get to see Killing of a Flashboy performed live. Whilst the sheer size of both bands’ back catalogue means not every era can be covered (kudos to Nicky’s mini acoustic sections keeping Journal for Plague Lovers and Postcards from a Young Man alive) but Suede ignoring everything between 1999’s Head Music and 2022’s Autofiction felt like a slight misstep.
The Manics Need a New Set Opener
Motorcycle Emptiness will always remain my favourite Manics song, a delicate and perfect mixture of what makes the band so essential. Whilst I see the appeal of starting shows with such a well loved song, it always feels to me a song that needs to be earned by the audience, that the set should build towards rather than descend from. Suede are happy kicking off shows with new tracks that set the tone for their performance, whilst the Manics seem to be edging away from the more raucous side of their back catalogue there’s still an argument of throwing in You Love Us to start things off or even indulging in the likes of Slash n Burn or even Found that Soul to create some early momentum.
Suede Need a New Set Closer
I get that the Beautiful Ones is Suede’s most radio friendly song and has their poppiest singalong chorus, but even with the extended outro it feels like a forced rather than satisfying finale – sticking out slightly from the glam punk sound the rest of their set embraces and thrives upon. I’ve always felt the one weakness in Suede’s armoury is the lack of suitable songs to finish off a night in style, whereas the Manics have more than their fair share – I’m still firmly in the boat that A Design for a Life provides a far more epic climax than If You Tolerate this… manages.
Love for The Holy Bible Just Won’t Go Away
Since the end of The Holy Bible anniversary tours eleven years ago live performances of tracks from the Manics’ masterpiece have been rare to the point of almost extinct. With a live album of those concerts released just prior to the start of the tour many fans felt this would see a return of many beloved yet caustic songs – which kind of did but kind of didn’t happen. Die in the Summertime proved to be an obtuse crowd pleaser each night, but the treatment of Faster seemed strange; arguably the Manics’ most essential song sounded as visceral as ever at Leeds, but then strangely got dropped almost immediately afterwards. Whilst an acoustic performance of This is Yesterday popped up at the second night in Cardiff, it still felt like there was space to delve more into the some of the more fascinating areas of the album.
The Band that Comes Last Comes First
I’ve found it slightly disappointing some of the online comments about which band ‘won’ each night as if these shows were some form of competition. The truth is, with a rotating order between who opened and who closed, whichever band was on second always received the better reception. Whilst this may be that the crowd was both fuller and better lubricated, it was noticeable each night after the initial set that swathes of fans departed the front of the crowd, leaving a more concentrated gathering of those there only to see that night’s headliners. Playing to a dedicated rather than split audience was always going to see a more enthusiastic reception and so it showed.
Brett May Well be the Fittest Fifty Nine Year Old in Music
To see Brett on stage is to see a man possessed, a man driven to stir up as much excitement from his devoted audience as is physically possibly. Dripping with sweat within the opening hours its exhausting simply watching and keeping up with his movements, putting performers decades younger than him to shame. Its hardly fair to expect the Manics to match those performance levels, especially as they have the added hindrance of having instruments to play and carry, but it felt like there were the most James guitar pirouette and Nicky scissor kicks than there had been in many a tour.
Cardiff Arena is now my Favourite Arena
I’ve never pretended to be a fan of huge arena shows, but Cardiff arena felt like a breath of fresh air compared to most on its scale. I can’t pretend to have been to all of the UKs live music arena (I think Cardiff makes it eight) but a combination of only being moderately rather than dauntingly large, its fine décor helps distinguish it from others which seem to prefer the minimalistic aircraft hangar look, along with a convenient and well designed access means getting to and away from it an absolute breeze (not that I still have nightmares about getting out of the Glasgow SECC car park…)
Where have Nicky’s Wales Flags Gone?
Times change, the world moves on, but we all crave the familiar. I’m pretty sure since seeing the Manics for the first time thirty years ago Nicky has always proudly had a couple of Wales flags hung on his bass amps. Even as someone who doesn’t originate from Wales the sight of the Welsh dragons appearing on stage was a heart warming sign the Manics were about to appear. Sadly this tour has seen them disappear, which leaves the Manics stage set up looking like that of any other rock band – and nobody fell in love with the Manics because they’re just another rock band.
Fan Community
Both bands stood out against their nineties UK guitar based peers due to their passion they inspired in their fanbase. This passion has now evolved into a great big communal feeling and I managed to enjoy several wonderful interactions both in real life and on line during the course of these shows. How much is connected to the destruction of Russian bot farms and Donald Trump’s midterm election disasters but even the Twitter communities seemed the strongest and most connected that they have been in a very long time.
Have you been fortunate enough to attend any of the on going tour? Make sure to leave any thoughts in the comments section below and don’t forget to subscribe for more music reviews direct to your inbox.
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