Manic Street Preachers 2013 Australian Tour

After a prolonged silence which has seen the band take a break from touring and releasing records,Manic Street Preachers have announced a short Antipodean tour to coincide with the British Lions Tour of Australia – the rugby team’s first in over a decade and the group’s last visit since 2010.

These rugby enthusiasts will be bringing their peerless brilliance to Australia for two shows only, each the night before the test matches against the Australian Wallabies in Melbourne and Sydney, with shows at Melbourne’s Festival Hall on Friday 28th June and Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on Friday 5th July.

For these lifelong rugby fans, the band who enjoyed a top ten hit in 1997 with the single Australia, this seemed a one-off opportunity to combine their mutual love of the sport and the continent.

The trio commented: “As massive rugby fans the chance to visit one of our favourite countries – play some gigs and watch the British and Irish Lions play Australia is an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity. We can’t wait to play a selection of our greatest hits to our Australian fans and the thousands of Lions fans travelling down under. It should be an amazing and memorable few shows.”

In the wake of trends of trancey shoegazer music and acid house, Welsh heroes, Manic Street Preachers emerged in the early 1990s as saviours of the British rock scene. Their self-consciously dangerous image, leftist leanings, crunching hard rock, and outsider status made them favourites of the British music press and helped them build a rabidly dedicated following.

The Manics last played the UK in December 2011 with a triumphant sold out show at the O2 Arena in London where they celebrated the release of their top ten singles collection National Treasures and have only so far announced one date for the UK for 2013 – it being a headlining appearance at Festival No. 6 in Portmeirion, Wales on the weekend of 13-15th September. The band have hinted at more news coming soon.

Joining The Manics on these shows will be Brisbane-quartet Hungry Kids Of Hungary. Following the February 2013 release of their highly anticipated sophomore release You’re A Shadow, the quartet have shown once again that they seamlessly distribute a melange of influences from blues, rock, soul, R&B and 1960s style pop-rock, all tied up in their trademark hooks and grasp of melody.