Manic Street Preachers at the Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (9/30/09)

Manic Street Preachers - A Design for Life Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (9/30/09) Tour Dates 10/01/09 Metro Chicago, IL 10/02/09 Majestic Theatre Detroit, MI 10/04/09 Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto 10/06/09 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA 10/07/09 Webster Hall New York City, NY 10/08/09 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA Discography [1992] Generation Terrorists [1993] Gold Against the Soul [1994] The Holy Bible [1996] Everything Must Go [1998] This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours [2001] Know Your Enemy [2004] Lifeblood [2007] Send Away the Tigers [2009] Journal for Plague Lovers Read More Manic Street Preachers http://weheartmus... Fan-favorite Manic Street Preachers will be back with Journal for Plague Lovers, which all of the...

MANIC STЯEET PЯEACHEЯS at 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 ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (9/30/09)

Opening up for them was Nico Vega (official/myspace), 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....

Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness

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.

Manic Street Preachers Setlist ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (9/30/09)

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.

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.

 10/01/2009 02:18:32 ♥ vu () ♥ manicstreetpreachers.com ♥ myspace.com/manics