Tonight is part of a joint headline tour featuring two British indie/rock veterans rotating the opening and closing slots.
Tonight sees Suede tasked with the opening slot. 'Turn Off Your Brain And Yell' is a great anthemic start. A euphoric 'Trash' follows and it is seemingly one banger after another as 'Animal Nitrate' then explodes into life. Brett then disappears into the crowd for an excellent 'The Drowners'. 'We Are The Pigs' is sleazier and dirtier than the studio recording whilst 'The Only Way I Can Love You' highlights how strong their newer material is. 'Hollywood Life' captivates with its swirling, hypnotic riff. Tracks like 'Filmstar' demonstrate a harder edge than the recorded versions. Brand new track 'Antidepressants' bodes well for the new album with a pretty strong chorus. Brett gets the whole crowd involved for 'Saturday Night' and turns it into the best sad karaoke you've ever been to. 'She Still Leads Me On' is absolutely fantastic. Brett's voice cracks during the high notes of 'The Wild Ones' but it is still beautiful. Brett doesn't try and sing everything. He speaks quite a few lines but when he does sing, he sounds pretty good. 'Metal Mickey' is still as good as it was in 1993. 'Beautiful Ones' ends the show in fine fashion. However, I'm a little distracted because the lady in front of me threw a pint of beer over another woman and I end up watching the fallout instead of watching the band.
Manic Street Preachers open with 'You Love Us'. It sounds a bit weak on the verses but the chorus is as dynamic as hell. The sweeping' Everything Must Go' sounds much more powerful. Even this early, it is clear that they are getting a much bigger reaction than Suede. 'Motorcycle Emptiness' is a true guitar anthem. 'Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)' is described by James Dean Bradfield as 'one of the most depressing cover versions ever' but it is better than I remember. Like Suede, they wheel out a lot of their big guns early as 'You Stole The Sun From My Heart' follows. Catherine from The Anchoress does a great job on 'Little Baby Nothing' although I'm not fully engaged with the track (which is a shame as i really like the studio version). She's even better on an excellent 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough'. A glorious 'A Design For Life' is dispensed with surprisingly early. 'Kevin Carter' still is a great slice of alt rock. 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' closes the show and is played (and greeted) with the fervour of a stadium rock anthem, which I suppose it is.
Manic Street Preachers ****
Suede ****
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