W♥M

Flashback: Manic Street Preachers at the Quest (19 Sep 1999)

Setlist You Stole the Sun From My Heart Faster Tsunami No Surface All Feeling The Everlasting Kevin Carter Ready for Drowning Motown Junk My Little Empire Train in Vain (The Clash cover) Motorcycle Emptiness Acoustic Set Black Dog on My Shoulder Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (Burt Bacharach cover) Australia You Love Us If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next A Design for Life Read More Manic Street Preachers ‘International Blue’ is the first new release from legendary UK band Manic Street Preachers. The single arrived this week (8th December 2017) and is taken from their 13th studio album Resistance Is Futile (Columbia/Sony Records). …

I have told this story before, but I accidentally saw Welsh band Manic Street Preachers for free in 1999.

I moved to Minneapolis area in 1998, and was still discovering the city. I have very fond memories of using Yahoo Maps to find the 400 Bar or looking for parking around First Avenue.

A year later, I wanted to see MSP at the Quest, which I’ve never heard of the venue before. I thought it was own by Prince, and I had a vague idea of where it was located. Since I’ve never been there before, I decided to arrive at the venue extra early. I must have gotten there extremely early, like 4pm or something. I was looking for the entrance, and mistakenly entered the venue through an open side door. There was a table, which I sat down and saw the soundcheck by the opening band… which MTV lists as U.S. rock band Remy Zero (but I cannot verify or deny this as I have no recollection of the opening band’s name). I could have sworn it was a local act.

Before I knew it, I heard the staff opening the venue, and fans were coming in the venue through the front entrance! Somehow, no one kicked me out, and I ended up seeing the show for free.

So, this was 1999, and the tour was for their then-new record This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours… which was the band’s first #1 record, selling over five million copies worldwide. I really love this record, actually, it was post-Richey Edwards (who presumably committed suicide). The record was calmer… but still had a lot of heart and soul in their songs.

James Dean Bradfield was great, and I was standing in front near bassist Nicky Wire, who was wearing eyeliner makeup, I might add! He was still jumping and doing splits in the air, it was great to finally see the band for the first time.

According to MTV archive news, the 1999 USA tour was supposed to take place in the Summer, but due to Manic Street Preachers singer James Dean Bradfield’s mother falling ill, the band had to reschedule the date for September. Although looking at the early five cancellation dates, it would seem that the band had not had their logistics all in order.

Manic Street Preachers USA 1999 tour schedule:

06/09/1999 Atlanta Cotton Club, Georgia - CANCELLED
08/09/1999 Washington 9:30 Club, D.C. - CANCELLED
09/09/1999 Philadelphia Theatre, Pennsylvania - CANCELLED
11/09/1999 Toronto Warehouse Canada
13/09/1999 New York Bowery Ballroom, New York
14/09/1999 New York Bowery Ballroom, New York - CANCELLED
15/09/1999 Boston Paradise, Massachusetts - CANCELLED
17/09/1999 Detroit St. Andrews Hall, Michigan
18/09/1999 Chicago Cabaret Metro, Illinois
19/09/1999 Minneapolis The Quest, Minnesota
22/09/1999 Vancouver The Rage Canada
23/09/1999 Seattle ARO Space, Washington
25/09/1999 Berkeley Mod Lang Records, California
25/09/1999 San Francisco Bimbo's 365 Club, California
27/09/1999 San Diego Canes, California
28/09/1999 Los Angeles Troubadour, California
29/09/1999 Los Angeles Troubadour, California USA

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

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

MSP Setlist Motorcycle Emptiness No Surface All Feeling Peeled Apples Your Love Alone Is Not Enough La tristesse durera (Scream to a Sigh) Jackie Collins Existential Question Time Let Robeson Sing Faster Enola/Alone This Joke Sport Severed From Despair to Where If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next Acoustic This Is Yesterday The Masses Against the Classes Send Away the Tigers You Stole the Sun From My Heart Motown Junk with All or Nothing Intro Me and Stephen Hawking Little Baby Nothing You Love Us A Design for Life Nico Vega Setlist Protest Song Blood Machine Rabbit in a Bag Fe Fi Fo Fum Gravity Jesus Baby Beast Read More Manic Street Preachers ‘International Blue’ is the first new release from legendary UK band Manic Street Preachers. The single arrived this week (8th December 2017) and is taken from their 13th studio album Resistance Is Futile (Columbia/Sony Records). … Nico Vega You know I love Nico Vega, the band is always fun to see live, although I'm sad to see Minneapolis isn't part of their itinerary. This new tour is with Crash Kings. I'm not entirely sure what the tour is in support of…

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.



>>>
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.

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

vu([email protected]) ♥weheartmusic.com♥facebook.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic

Red, White, and Blue 2017

Read more: Red, White, and Blue.

Read More Manic Street Preachers 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? …

MANIC STREET PREACHERS
manicstreetpreachers.com

‘International Blue’ is the first new release from legendary UK band Manic Street Preachers. The single arrived this week (8th December 2017) and is taken from their 13th studio album Resistance Is Futile (Columbia/Sony Records).

The single was inspired by the city of Nice in the mid winter sun and the life’s work of French Nouveau realisme artist Yves Klein.

Nicky Wire explained “I’d been digesting the lyric for five years, since being in Nice and finally joining the dots between Yves Klein’s International Klein Blue and the vast open blue of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a moment of connection that felt perfectly natural – not forced or intellectualised. A different kind of enrichment that feels increasingly difficult to find. The track itself is carried by the kind of naïve energy that powered ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’”.

James Dean Bradfield added “Often I just need a great title to set me off. Seeing the word blue struck a chord and set off memories of pure pop records we grew up with – things like the ‘Story of the Blues’ by Wah!, ‘Moon is Blue’ by Colourbox, Orange Juice’s ‘Blue Boy’ and’ In Bluer Skies’ by Echo and the Bunnymen….”

Please note: I just checked and the single is actually not available to the US market. You can’t buy it here, and I’m assuming you can’t listen to it online either (?).

MSP will be playing a few dates in 2018:

23 April NEWCASTLE, Metro Radio Arena
25 April GLASGOW, The SSE Hydro Arena
27 April BIRMINGHAM, Arena
28 April MANCHESTER, Arena
1 May LLANDUDNO, Venue Cymru Arena
2 May LEEDS, First Direct Arena
4 May LONDON, The SSE Arena Wembley
5 May CARDIFF, Motorpoint Arena

Read More White Town I got distracted by this awesome song called "Your Woman" by White Town. I couldn't shake that AWESOME hook he has in the song. …

WHITE TOWN
whitetown.co.uk

I’ll confess, I love White Town’s ‘Your Woman’ when I discover the song ten years ago (even though the song has been around since 1990): “I got distracted by this awesome song called "Your Woman" by White Town. I couldn't shake that AWESOME hook he has in the song. I knew it was an older-sound, I was guessing like Amadeus, but as it turns out, it was a 1930s song by Al Bowlly called "My Woman" (very clever, Mr White Town!)”

Coming up on December 20, 2017, White Town (aka aka Joyti Mishra) will be reinventing his one-hit song as ‘Your Woman 1917’… as if the song was recorded 100 years ago. I understand the reason for this, as the original Al Bowlly that he sampled was written about 100 years ago, so it would make sense if White Town existed back then, that his song ‘Your Woman’ would sound with natural orchestra and acoustics (note: no electronic guitar or dance beats). While the re-imagined song sounded just fine (maybe a little slower and easier to understand the lyrics), it missed the whole point on why the original ‘Your Woman’ song is such genius. The main reason why I love ‘Your Woman’ is that it combines music from a hundred years ago with cheap techno dance beats; it’s something you don’t really expect in a pop song at all.

Anyway, you can hear the new ‘Your Woman 1917’ on youtube.com and decide for yourself.

White Town will be playing a rare London gig this Friday, December 15th, at St John On Bethnal Green church, supporting Haiku Salut’s Christmas Lamp Show.

REDLIGHT
redlightmusic.co.uk

DJ/record producer Redlight (not to be confused with rock band Red Light) is from Bristol, England (hence his “Redlight UK” name on his soundcloud). His latest song ‘Zum Zum’ (his third Lobster Boy Records single this year) features his collaboration with British reggae singer Sweetie Irie (who had a massive hit with ‘Who?’ with Ed Case in the early 2000).

You can listen to ‘Zum Zum’ now on soundcloud.com.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

W♥M088: Double Podcast

W♥M088 [download (51min, 35mb)]

There were a couple of posts that did not transition over to Typepad, one of them was the entry for #87, so I'm including the entry below (for searching/archive reasons).

This special Double Podcast edition comes in two parts: Sally (Sydney, Australia) vs Brody (New Orleans, Lousiana).

PART ONE: SALLY
♥ Internet: My lamentation of the Vox service is going away. Although we both had numerous problems with posts and formatting. The nice thing about Typepad is that it does offer a no frills html composure (although I hear there's some issues with the new editor).
♥ Sydney: Miami Horror, touring the US and releasing a double disc album. Details previously mentioned here.
♥ Melbourne: Clubfeet's debut album Gold on Gold is quite good! Then I found out that "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" is a bit of a joke song - from an imaginary band on the movie Heathers (which, incidentally, I own on a special tin-edition DVD).
♥ London: Goldfrapp has an iPhone pinball game. The concept of the game is interesting: you remix a Goldfrapp song when you play. You can download the game via iTunes.
♥ Sydney: Peabody is going to stream all their music from Loose Manifesto via their website eventually. Currently showing two songs.
♥ New York: Das Racist returning with a new mixtape called Sit Down, Man out on September 14^th. Watch the trailer on youtube. Pitchfork premiered their video for "Who's That? Brooown!" a few days ago.
♥ Brisbane: Hungry Kids Of Hungary not going hungry on their two years-winning of 2010Q Music Award for the Alternative Category. The Q stands for Queensland, not the UK music magazine.

PART TWO: BRODY
♥ New Orleans: Brody's big easy move. He's on the scene! Will be trying to attend a bunch of upcoming bands, especially keen on Sasha Masakowski and the famed-Voodoo Music Festival.
♥ New York: Peelander-Z touring New Orleans. Can't stop praising them.
♥ Tennessee: Those Darlins, no idea where they're at now, but if they're in town, you know I'll be there.

Those Darlins - Wild One

♥ London: Lucy Rose is the song of choice from Brody. She's a rising star, watch out for this one, Brody tells me.

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vu ()

W♥M078: Peelander-Z and Manic Street Preachers

W♥M078 [download (24min, 22mb)]

Once again, we just can't get rid of Cristina. Unstoppable Cristina.

 

Manic Street Preachers - A Design for Life

I think we have one more regarding some Australian bands, but we'll see how that plays out.

In this episode we talk about Peelander-Z and Manic Street Preachers.

Also, sorry for the bad photoshop job, it's been a long day.

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04/15/2010 00:03:58♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

W♥M057: Britpop Top Ten Countdown

W♥M058 (69 mins)

Suede - Metal Mickey     Britpop: Jarvis vs Blur ♥ Flyer (12/05/09)

BRITPOPCAST #4: TOP TEN BRITPOP COUNTDOWN

This is the best of the best, and as far as I'm concern, this is the best countdown ever. If you had to listen to just one of our podcast, I think this the one you have to listen to.

Going into the recording, we already knew that it would be one massive recording session that will be split into two parts. So the first part is the countdown, thirty of our favorite Britpop tunes. The second part will be uploaded next week and involves a very hard Britpop Q Magazine Quiz. Seriously, it was hard, even for seasoned veterans like ourselves.

The next show, some ideas: Britpop girl bands ? Britpop band reunions ? If those doesn't sound appealing, let me know what you'd like us to discuss. Otherwise, I can always talk hours on end about stalking Louise Wener.

As for the Britpop top list, these are our preference and not a mean to measure how important a band is to that genre. Also, obviously we all had our Pulp, Blur, and Oasis moment, but the choice in songs are interesting to note. I have always known that my top two are the Blur vs Oasis, it was the other eight that was hard to have placement. I could have easily had a top 20 or 30. Easily.

Some honorable mentions should be sent to Cast, Salad, Charlatans.

Vu 10. Gene - Sleep Well Tonight 09. Echobelly - I Can't Imagine the World Without Me 08. The Bluetones - Bluetonic 07. Shed Seven - Dolphin 06. Sleeper - Nice Guy Eddie 05. Pulp - Disco 2000 04. Elastica - Stutter 03. Suede - Metal Mickey 02. Blur - Girls and Boys 01. Oasis - Supersonic

Sally 10. SFA - Ice Hockey Hair 09. Doves - Pounding 08. Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream 07. Blur - Sunday Sunday 06. Suede - Animal Nitrate 05. The Coral - Dreaming of You 04. Ocean Colour Scene - The Day We Caught the Train 03. Dodgy - Good Enough 02. Pulp - Babies 01. Stone Roses - Fools Gold

Kristen 10. MSP - Motorcycle Emptiness 09. South - Keep Close 08. Pulp - Acrylic Afternoons 07. Oasis - Columbia 06. Wendys-Pulling My Fingers Off 05. Supergrass - Moving 04. Blur - This is a Low 03. Oasis - The Masterplan 02. Suede - Killing of a Flash Boy 01. Pulp - Sheffield: Sex City

If you like what you heard, and you happen to be in Sydney in early December, DJ Sal is doing her bits at britpop.com.au.

PS, stay after the song and you're in for a Buzzcocks treat.

W♥M Radio is available on iTunes, please subscribe!

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vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

W♥M056: Welsh Britpop Bands

Super Furry Animals - Ohio Heat ♥ Flyer (11/07/09)

W♥M056 (49 min)

BRITPOPCAST #3: WELSH BRITPOP BANDS
This show was recorded on Saturday morning at 12.30am with Sally. I was half tired and half unprepared... but lots of fun on this episode about Welsh Britpop bands.

Welsh bands we focused on: Super Furry Animals, Manic Street Preachers, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Catatonia, Stereophonics, and 60ft Dolls.

The second part, which is more like a post script is that Sally will be DJing Jarvis Cocker/Pulp music for an hour on December 5^th in anticipation and celebration of Cocker touring in Australia around that date. Come stalk her in Sydney, more details on britpop.com.au.

Below is the interview Sal did with singer Gruff Rhys from SFA, originally published in Kill the Cod fanzine.

KILL THE COD INTERVIEWS GRUFF RHYS

Whilst attending a smashing concert at Newcastle Uni (25th.Feb), i managed, as well as being able to watch three of my favourite bands (Lavish, Super Furry Animals and Custard), i was able to have a chat to a Mr Gruff Rhys, the lead singer of the Super Furries. So here is the story of that night....................................................................................*sally*

What's the deal with all the Welsh bands that have been touring Australia lately?
It's really funny, you know, we used to share the same amps as Catatonia and we shared drummers, we've known members of Catatonia since I was...you know...

So you lived near them?
ah...Catatonia are from North Wales and we're from South Wales...your in bands for years playing along and it's...so surreal, you know...we'll be playing in Melbourne the same night as Catatonia and we'll probably meet up with them after...and I saw them in a pub in Cardiff before coming over...

So it's just coincidence that you, Catatonia and the Manic Street Preachers have all decided to tour Australia at the same time?
Yeah...cos Wales is a small place...you bump into everyone and you meet everyone...the music is quite different...you know? Everyone does their own thing, so no one is in competition with each other...it's great you know...to meet up in exotic locations

How do you like playing with Lavish and, tonight, Custard?
well...I haven't heard Custard and I hadn't heard Lavish until last week

How do you feel about not being the headlining band tonight (Newcastle Uni)?
That's fine...yeah...I mean we've never played in Australia before and no one's heard of us practically...you know..we sort of have just started out in Australia, so it's great to be number 1 and number 2...it's good to have an audience...I don't care about headlining...you know, I think that's secondary to the music true true...

So how did the Super Furry Animals form?
ahh...we started recording in Dafydd's house about five years ago (points to Dafydd)...this doesn't translate on tape..um..that short guy with the brown shirt..um..we had a home studio..we spent a few years writing songs and before that me and Dafydd were in a band called Ffa Coffi Pawb, Guto and Bunf were in a band, and Cian had his own band and Cian is Dafydd's brother so he used to hang out with us...and by this time me Cian and Dafydd had moved down from North Wales to Cardiff and we knew Bunt and Guto from the days in Ffa Coffi Pawb, we were all in Welsh punk rock bands you know..then we spent two years in the house writing songs and playing around and um...then we decided to start playing live...we did a few gigs and then we got together to release a single on a label called Ankst and so it's one of those freaky things...we'd played about two gigs and we sent a copy to the NME or something and we got a slot in a pub in London and about 10 journalists came to see us and wrote rave reviews...we went to London again the week after and played in another pub and there was about 40 record companies and they all wanted a piece and...it was really strange and easy and then we did an album for Creation...we've been in bands for 10 years making music and suddenly you get offered this chance to record the albums of your dreams you know..and come to places like Australia to play

Are you enjoying Australia?
Yeah...I didn't know what to expect at all and it's a good place and um...i'm looking forward to coming back...yeah I want to come back

I don't know if you've ever been asked this but...i've got a game called Actua Soccer at home..
..oh yeah...

and I notice a SFA team with you running around the field...so how did you get into that?
well...we were making a video and we didn't have many pictures and we wanted to walk into the screen and change into football players and so we got in contact with these people and they did it free for us and...but they fucked up cos..we selected a team of all our heros..um...we had..i think Che Guevara was in goal, Nelson Mandella on the wing..i think Lou Reed was in the team and...Fidel Castro and...Frank Zappa on the wing, etcetera, etcetera and the five of us...apparently they've put like..Stalin and Ghengis Khan on the team and it's horrible cos they lost the piece of paper we sent them so they put all these wankers in, you know...it's really bad...so we're all embarrassed it's still an alright game though I prefer Fifa 98

yeah...me too... What football teams do you support?
Bangor City...their in the league of Wales............ah a bug (on the ground).........yeah..i support Bangor City in the league of Wales and I support Cardiff City who are in the third division of the English league even though it's a Welsh team...um...I support Barcelona and Bilbao in the Spanish league...who do you support?

I support Arsenal and it's not just because they won the FA cup and that, I had been supporting them for years, so don't get any ideas
o.k....i know some Arsenal fans

What is your favourite telly show ever?
well...Calimero...it's like a Czech cartoon. Calimero is a little black chicken with half a shell on its head and um...I did have a photo of him (searches his pocket and wallet)...he's like the only black chicken in a family of yellow chickens and it gets translated into Welsh so we used to watch it in Welsh on Welsh TV and i've met Japanese people...it's been translated into Japanese and Italian and in Scotland it's in English with an Italian accent so Calimero's catch phrase is "It's an injustice" (in an Italian accent) and um..in Welsh it's (Welsh words-sorry ) which is "there's no flavour to life"..it's this depressed chicken..it's a cartoon for kids but, you know...Calimero...god guy..one of the greats

How do you Kill the Cod?
Are you an active fisher?

it's actually out of the Goodies
Ah yeah...i saw a band a few weeks ago and they've got Graeme Garden's son on keyboards...he's got the same smile...that's quite amazing..i don't'know if I endorse killing cod..so maybe we should let it swim..you know.

--
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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 

News: Manic Street Preachers' "Journal for Plague", Perez Hilton on tour, Radiohead still exists

Here are some news from news.weheartmusic.com for this week.

Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness

Manic Street Preachers

Fan-favorite Manic Street Preachers will be back with Journal for Plague Lovers, which all of the UK critics (Mojo, Q Magazine, Uncut, Sunday Times, The Guardian) have unanimously agreed that this is their best album yet.

Title of the new album is named after Richey Edwards' journal, whose lyrics and notes have written the entire Journal for Plague Lovers album! Yes, Edwards disappeared in 1995 (people have pronounced him dead as a possible suicide). I believe he drowned himself in River Severn, however conspiracists thinks he's still alive - like Elvis is alive.... Anyway, I remember even before his death, he guy was crazy! He often cut and scar his arms and not too shy about it either.

Well, if you pre-order the album, you'll get it by 9/15/09 - however, the digital version of the album, you will get right away if you want to hear the album now. The $10 digital order also comes with a bonus digital remixed album, available 9/15.

Of course, they're be on tour to promote the album in the US. I believe the album's already out in the UK.

September Mon -21 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
Tue- 22 Vancouver, Canada @ The Commodore Ballroom
Thu-24 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Fri- 25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Avalon
Mon-Sep-28 Denver, CO @ The Bluebird Theatre
Wed-Sep-30 Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity Theatre

October Thu-01 Chicago, IL @ The Metro
Fri- 02 Detroit, MI @ The Majestic Theatre
Sun- 04 Toronto, Canada @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
Tue- 06 Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live
Wed- 07 New York City, NY @ Webster Hall
Thu- 08 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

Since I don't have the new album for review (yet), enjoy this previous Edwards song, "Motorcycle Emptiness" from their debut album Generation Terrorists.

Ladyhawke - Dusk Till Dawn (Pascal Gabriel Radio Mix)

Ladyhawke

"The most revered and feared celebrity blogger" Perez Hilton apparently loves music. Other people I've spoke with at SXSW (where Perez Hilton hosted his own shows), have remarked to me that he tends to like "pop shit" - such as help made Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Mika, into stars.

Well Perez Hilton have gathered a few artists on an upcoming tour, all the details are on perezhiltonpresents.com. For critics who calls it 'pop shit', the lineup will prove them wrong, especially because we love the co-headliners Ladyhawke and Ida Maria.

Here are the dates of the upcoming Perez Hilton tour:

September 10th Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
September 12th Washington, DC 9:30 Club
September 13th Philadelphia, PA Theatre of the Living Arts
September 14th Boston, MA House of Blues
September 16th New York, NY The Fillmore @ Irving Plaza
September 17th Toronto, ONT Opera House Concert Venue
September 19th Chicago, IL Metro
September 21st Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
September 22nd Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom
September 23rd Kansas City, MO The Beaumont Club
September 25th Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
September 26th Salt Lake City, UT Club Sound
September 28th Seattle, WA The Showbox @ The Market
September 29th Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
September 30th San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
October 2nd San Diego, CA House of Blues
October 3rd Hollywood, CA Avalon

I'm am assuming Hilton will be there to MC the event/introduce the band - so if you're a celebrity blogger trainspotter, you should check out a show.

Radiohead - These Are My Twisted Words

Radiohead

Finally, I spotted our W♥M twitter with: "New Radiohead Song: 'These Are My Twisted Words' - FREE DOWNLOAD - http://tr.im/wysC" from 11:45 AM Aug 17th. Sure enough, it's a new Radiohead song, for free.

Jonny wrote this, via radiohead.com:

So here's a new song, called 'These Are My Twisted Words'.

We've been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished. We're pretty proud of it.

There's other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we've been practicing, and which we'll probably play at this summer's concerts. Hope you like it.

Download the audio here or torrent here.

 08/19/2009 11:04:46 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

Best Of The 90s

Sleeper - Inbetweener	Echobelly - Car Fiction [French Version]
Manic Street Preachers - A Design for Life	DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - A Nightmare on My Street

Sorry, no music from me today (surely Vu will add some to the post?) but a heads up for all the UK readers.

Play.com are currently running a Best Of The 90s sale with albums and best-ofs from some of the best bands of the 90s from only £2.99 shipped. $6 in the US might get you a new album, but here we can't even pick up stuff in charity shops for that little so it ain't bad. Anyway...

Choice highlights so far include an Echobelly Best-Of for £2.99,  Sleeper Best Of for £4.99, Manics' Everything Must Go £4.99, and my personal favorite, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Best-Of, £2.99. I could go on forever as seriously, every row has a great band on them, so just check out sale for yourself.

- Christopher

Vu's Note: Sadly, I own all these albums you mentioned (plus about 75% of what is on sale at that store). 90s, baby....

Incidentally, in Suede news, singer Brett Anderson will be releasing his second album, Wilderness on July 7^th at his concert that costs £30. Surely, you may think this is expensive, but as a way to pad the pain to fans, buying the concert tickets ensures a USB stick with his new album on it.