Flashback: Manic Street Preachers at the Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (30 Sep 2009)

It’s been a good minute that we last saw Manic Street Preachers in the USA. I personally hadn’t seen MSP since The Quest in Minneapolis (19 September 1999), so it was like seeing an old friend when I got a chance to see the band again a decade later.






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MANIC STЯEET PЯEACHEЯSat the VAЯSITY THEATEЯ

Last night, the initials MSP did not stand for Minneapolis/St Paul, but
for Manic Street Preachers. Has it really been ten years since the
Manics stopped by Minneapolis? Their fans sure missed them, as evident
last night in the all-out sing-along concert.

Nico Vega Setlist

Opening up for them was Nico Vega,
who seems to have been on tour since 2007 when I last saw them. I
talked to a few of their fans, who made sure to get there early to see
the band in action. They told me that either they have seen the band’s
legendary live performances or have heard their music on the “The
Collector” soundtrack. Well, as expected, their “hit” song, “Beast”,
made for a fantastic finale.

As with their previous set from a few years ago, the band’s
setlist was pretty short – only about seven songs. Aja, Rich, and Dan,
all dressed in black and silver. A bit dark, and I reckon they must’ve
had fashion advice from Placebo or so. There wasn’t a whole lot of
banter, but there was a funny moment when drummer Dan asked for
donations because of his “$400 speeding ticket”. That must’ve been one
hell of a car chase….

As far as hump day Wednesday, was concerned, this was a great
turnout for a concert. There was a line when I got there late, which
was a good sign. By the time Manic Street Preachers
showed up, the Varsity Theater was full of bodies. Before we get to the
band, I have to tell you that it’s been a while since I witness
cult-like followings. Just the random people around me at the front of
the stage, they were all from Wisconsin, Idaho, and Canada. The best
bit were these two friends from the UK traveling to three US cities
just to see the Manics (they are heading out to Chicago to see them
tomorrow). Although the reason for the UK girls was to enjoy the band
in “far smaller venues”, the others traveled over great distance
because MSP were only doing limited tour dates.

For me, it was good to see the band again. I had last seen
them at the Quest in downtown, and I remember Nicky Wire doing more
jumps and kicks (he’s still doing them, but not as much). Well,
Minneapolis was more than happy to have this band back in town.

Surprisingly, MSP did a few old songs. When
they came on stage and did “Motorcycle Emptiness” – I swear singer
James Bradfield could easily just stand there and let the audience sing
the song. The audience continued to sing along to other classics (“If
You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will be Next”, “Little Baby
Nothing”, “Faster”, “You Stole The Sun From My Heart”, etc) and the
band seems to be in top-form.

MSP Setlist

There’s at least three guitar changes, all were pre-tuned and
ready to switch as soon as the song requires it. Nicky started talking
about Brett Favre and football, but I think he was mocking someone in
the backstage who was apparently really excited about football. James
called him a “jock”, which he said “was a compliment”.

There was a nice break in their set, when the rest of the band
left for ten minutes while James did his two acoustic songs. The band
came back to an electrifying “Send Away the Tigers”.

Before I knew it, the end of their set came with an amazing live
version of “A Design For Life”. This was clearly my favorite
performance of the whole night. There were no encores, but if you look
at the setlist, they did about two hours worth of songs…. so well
worth it.