Manic Street Preachers - Absolute Radio Live Session!
You know those competitions to win an exclusive ‘money-can’t-buy’ experience with your Favourite band? No-one ever wins them, do they? Well, that’s what I thought too, until this week, I won!
I managed to be one of the first callers through to an Absolute Radio competition and won a place at the Manic Street Preachers session at their London studios. With only 40 tickets up for grabs, this was going to be a bit special.
Am I excited? Oh yes!
After queuing outside and chatting with some of the other winners, we are led through the doors and up to the small live studio room. Draped in blackout curtains and with a few spotlights, it’s tiny, and we crowd around the stage area to wait for the band to appear.
After a quick introduction the curtains part and James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore are here! Sadly, Nicky Wire is absent today but I’m more than happy to see two thirds of the Manics!
They begin the short set with the live premiere of ‘International Blue’, the first single released from their new album ‘Resistance is Futile’. James plays his signature white Les Paul guitar but Sean is missing his drumkit, instead using his Cajon Schlagwerk drum box and carefully setting up the backing tracks.
The sound is amazing and it’s thrilling to be one of the first fans to hear the new material played live, especially in such an intimate setting. The next song is setlist regular ‘You Stole the Sun From My Heart’, quickly followed by the second new track ‘Distant Colours’. James chats about taking up running to get fit for the upcoming tour, and apparently Nicky is the tour stylist and will be choosing the outfits the band wear. Could this be a return to the glam image of the early ‘90’s? We’ll have to wait and see!
A quick guitar change and James introduces what he calls the ‘obligatory tour cover’, this time it’s a great choice; ‘Garageland’ by The Clash. James gets us to join in with the ‘woh oh ooohhhs’ of the chorus. All to soon it’s the final song, the classic ‘You Love Us’, this was one of the first Manics singles I bought as a teenager and was ironic at the time as so many people hated them! Ha! how things change!
With the final guitar riffs still ringing in our ears James and Sean wave a quick ‘goodbye’ and then they are gone leaving us all wanting more. Five songs is just not enough, but it was wonderful to hear them. Thank you so much to the Manics and Absolute radio for giving a handful of fans an experience they will never forget.
The session will be broadcast on 12th April at 9pm and was also filmed for youtube.
All photos: Lorna Cort.