Manic Street Preachers @ The Commodore, Vancouver

The Manic Street Preachers: the reason Amanda and I (at my request) chucked in our jobs two weeks earlier than planned to move back to Vancouver. Expectations, therefore, were pretty high. Thankfully, every moment of the Manics first gig in Vancouver in a decade (to the day!) made the sacrifice worth it. I honestly never thought I’d see them live again.

Journal For Plague Lovers has just been released here in North America (and is ostensibly the reason for the tour) yet the band played little from the record, preferring it to stand on its own as a “piece of art” to (mis)quote Nicky Wire. The four songs from JFPL, however, work just fine with the rest of the Manics live repertoire. Peeled Apples was all ominous bass and guitar while the shimmery pop of Jackie Collins Existential Question Time gave voice to a crowd screaming out “Oh Mommy, what’s a Sex Pistol?” Thank you, Richey Edwards.

So in lieu of heaps of new material, what we North Americans are getting on this tour is a mix of stuff from nearly every record with a focus on The Hits. And can you blame them? After a decade away I imagine the band themselves were wondering what the response would be in the comparatively small venues of the US and Canada.

Well, the response at the Commodore last night was huge. The gig was not sold out but every one that did turn up seemed to be a massive fan and people were belting out all the words to even the most loquacious songs on offer including opener Motorcycle Emptiness. Um yeah. Epic opener much?

And while the longtime, hardcore Manics fan inside would have loved a more obscure song here or there (like Take The Skinheads Bowling which was played in Seattle the night before), I certainly cannot really find fault in a setlist that looks like this.

Setlist
Motorcycle Emptiness
No Surface All Feeling
Peeled Apples
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
La Tristessa Durera (Scream To A Sigh)
Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
Let Robeson Sing
Faster
Everything Must Go
This Joke Sport Severed
From Despair To Where
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
This Is Yesterday (acoustic)
The Everlasting (acoustic)
Send Away The Tigers
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
All Or Nothing –> Motown Junk
Me And Stephen Hawking
Little Baby Nothing
You Love Us
A Design For Life

No Surface All Feeling? Yes please. An absolutely raging Faster? Sure, why not. The band themselves seemed pretty thrilled with the energy from the crowd (not something generally associated with Vancouver audiences) and I must say that bouncing along to A Design For Life while everyone screamed out every word was a pretty amazing live experience.

The quieter moments were just as memorable though. Midway through the set, James played two songs on his own on acoustic guitar, This Is Yesterday and The Everlasting. This Is Yesterday was particularly beautiful and poignant last night.

So, an enthusiastic response from the crowd. A sold out merch table. Please, please, please don’t make us wait another decade.

The gig also gave me a chance to hang out with three friends who all also happen to be massive Manics fans. Great to see you all again. And Quinn, they checked our tickets on the Canada Line on the way home.

Guttersnipe also has a review up.

Finally, I feel it is my duty to also share with you how laughingly bad the opening act, Nico Vega were. Just absolutely dreadful. They reminded me of Tenacious D. but without any self-awareness. Or they are the greatest actors ever making an absolutely hilarious mockumentary. Avoid at all costs.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Canada, General, Photos, Reviews, Setlists, Shows, Vancouver. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.