The Welsh rockers from the Manic Street Preachers decided that the British & Irish Lions RugbyTour of Australia was a great excuse to play a few concerts Down Under while they were here supporting their players. With an audience consisting of mainly Welsh Rugby supporters, the Manics really played a home away from home show in Sydney.
It turned out to be a great night for sports and music fans alike. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for support act Hungry Kids Of Hungary took to the stage. With the exception of vocalist/keyboardist Kane Mazlin the Brisbane boys looked uncomfortable on the large stage, which is surprising since these Neonerd-hipsters have played major festivals.
They undeniably have some catchy tunes with hits like “Sharp Shooter” and “Twin Cities”, and the vocal harmonies are always spot on, but a lot of filler tracks prove that great harmonies do not automatically make for great songs. These kids left the crowd hungry for a band with substance, and the night’s headliner offered this in abundance.
Looking at their discography, The Manic Street Preachers may not seem like a fun live band; with songs about boredom, despair, war, suicide, genocide and just about every other heavy subject one can think of, it sounds like a night with these Welshmen is far from an uplifting experience.
However, a Manics concert is the exact opposite of what one might expect based on their body of work. This was an energetic, passionate and even cheerful live act that really knows how to rock a crowd.
In an introduction to the hitsong “Australia”, bassist Nicky Wire explained he wrote it when he wanted to disappear off the face of the earth – so he picked Australia as a metaphor for the furthest you can possibly be away from home. Hearing this song performed live in Sydney in front of a mainly British audience indeed as far away from home as possible became the highlight of the show.
When James Dean Bradfield performed two acoustic songs it was displayed once more what a hurricane-force of a voice this tiny man has: a powerful version of “The Everlasting” was followed by an impressive rendition of Franki Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You”. In between these songs he played some tunes of British sports shows on his guitar, which led the crowd into a thundering chant supporting their Lions.
Of course this concert was all about the following night’s deciding match between the British & Irish Lions versus the Aussie Wallabees; the track “Send Away The Tigers” was even adjusted to “Send Away The Lions.”
More rugby references followed after the song, “You Love Us”, when Bradfield commented they missed Jamie Roberts on this track. Last week in Melbourne the Welsh Lions Star joined his favourite band onstage on guitar for this song (which he described on Twitter as “the happiest five minutes of my life”), but tonight in Sydney he was nowhere to be found. “He left the band already”, Bradfield explained, “He said ‘Fuck this, I’m off to join Coldplay’”.
The band recently announced they have two albums worth of new material so these Welsh rockers might set foot on Australian soil again in the near future. When that happens, they deserve to play in front of a huge audience since this is a great festival band that knows how to get a crowd going. Last time they played Big Day Out was 1999, so a return is long overdue.
Regardless of the outcome of the next day’s test match between the British and Irish Lions versus the Wallabees, the Manics’ performance was already a victory for rock & roll. Who knows, with their manic passion for The British and Irish Lions these preachers might have even managed to convert some Wallabees fans.
