Overdue gig reviews: Manic Street Preachers, Suede, Sugababes

 
As I sit here in the gloomy, rain-sodden Autumn, it's hard to look back at that brief window of sunshine and blue skies we call the Great British Summer... but, look back I must, as I need to dredge my unreliable memory and recall a couple of outstanding summer gigs in two of my favourite cities.

Firstly, two bands that I've wanted to see for many years but have unaccountably never got round to catching before, the Manic Street Preachers and Suede. I know.. what have I been doing all this time? When I heard these two bands were doing a co-headline tour, and stopping at Cardiff Castle where we'd seen A-Ha a couple of years ago ( almost to the day ), it was a no-brainer to book tickets.

Of course, the next step was actually getting to the gig, which proved to be more difficult. Firstly, my sat-nav decided it didn't want me and Sarah to go to Wales and repeatedly tried to send us back to the Shire. ( There's lovely, as they might say in the land of the red dragon. ) Then, after finally getting the rebellious tech to play ball, we reached the lovely city of Cardiff, only to find that the roads around the castle were shut and we couldn't get to our hotel. I ditched the car in a random car park and we struggled with our luggage to our final destination... only to find the hotel had minutes before suffered a power cut, and we couldn't book in or access our room. Happy days! Eeeeeventually this was all sorted, we dumped our cases, and headed into Cardiff Castle itself.

Unsurprisingly, this being the Welsh capital, the Manics were headliners for this stop of the tour, and those London lads Suede were first on. And they came out fighting. Brett Anderson, who I'd always thought of as a too-cool-for-school kind of frontman, literally started bouncing around the stage like an indie Tigger with a rocket up his arse. He barely stopped for a second of the performance, calling out the crowd to "Come! On!", clapping his hands, waggling his backside ( of course ) and generally rabble-rousing the audience into a frenzy.

And the songs! The first half of the set was an almost Ramones-like canter through indie classic after indie classic: So Young, Trash, Animal Nitrate, The Drowners and Filmstar were fired out in quick succession, anthem after anthem, tune after tune. One of the most invigorating starts to a set I've ever seen. 

And it wasn't just the '90s bangers that hit home so hard: the songs from their wonderful 2022 album Autofiction ( album cover above ) were stunning when played live. The pounding Personality Disorder, the Goth-y Shadow Self and the surprisingly tough-but-emotional She Still Leads Me On were all as powerful and tuneful as any of their old favourites. 

And, for all the jumping around the stage, Brett was in fine voice, still managing to hit all the high and low notes that he's known for - if anything, I think his voice is even more commanding nowadays than in his fey heyday. And, after a victorious Metal Mickey, Brett asked us to sing for him too - just one word: "La!" Of course, it was the "la la la" singalong of Beautiful Ones and it was.... beautiful. In fact, the whole thing was beautiful ( man! ), an amazing performance from a band unbelievably still at the top of their game after over thirty years. I still can't understand why it's taken me so long to see them, but I'll have to do it again.

After all this excitement, we had a break and went in search of a hot drink, as it was now getting surprisingly chilly for a July evening. This took some time as there was literally only one stall selling the coffee that Sarah needed to defrost herself, and they'd just run out of water (!). While this was happening, there was a mighty roar as the Manic Street Preachers took to the stage. Sarah was still queuing for caffeine, so I had to watch the first three songs from a distance: they sounded great but I'd have preferred to have been a little ( a lot ) closer. And again, how's this for the start of a set: You Love Us, Everything Must Go and Motorcycle Emptiness? It doesn't get much better than that. Even at some remove from the action, that guitar riff in YLU was absolutely titanic and the melancholic epic that is EMG was as poignant as ever. Motorcycle Emptiness is probably my fave Manics song and I was so glad to finally hear it played live.

Coffee acquired, we headed back into the crowd to the strains of Suicide Is Painless ( Theme From MASH ), which Nicky Wire dedicated to the great Donald Sutherland ( the original "Hawkeye" Pierce ) who had recently sadly passed away. Then the band were in full indie pop mode with a glorious You Stole The Sun From My Heart ( just as the sun was actually going down ), with some gorgeous vocals from James Dean Bradfield. Honestly, just like with Brett Anderson, I think James's voice has only improved with age and, for my money, he's one of the best ( if underrated ) vocalists around today. Many "4Real" Manics fans put down their more poppier moments ( including current single Decline & Fall ), but I think these can be equally as strong as the Holy Bible-type gloom-punk...

To further reinforce the bands' more soulful, melodic side, they were joined on stage by The Anchoress ( aka Catherine Anne Davies ) for gorgeous versions of Little Baby Nothing and Your Love Alone Is Not Enough. The Manics have always been the least macho stadium rock band and have consistently featured a more feminine side to their music. The Anchoress brought a touch of female fire and fury to these songs and was captivating. I need to check out her solo stuff.

The old classics kept coming as the band kicked out cracking versions of A Design For Life and La Tristesse Durera ( Scream To A Sigh ) - great stuff! I was surprised however by how little the Manics communicated with the crowd, presumably letting the music do most of the talking. We'd had the long, long overdue news that the Tory "government" were on the way out only two days previously, but there was no mention of that. Nicky Wire did praise JDB at one point, saying how well he sung Wire's lyrics, and also mentioned the long-lost Richey Edwards ( of course ), who he called their "beautiful boy". It's always poignant to wonder how different things would have been if Edwards hadn't sadly disappeared back in 1995...

You know I mentioned "blue skies" earlier on? Well, as this was Wales, there was always the possibility of rain. And Wales didn't let us down. Fittingly, as the band launched into Tsunami, a slight drizzle began. And that drizzle soon turned into an absolute downpour, so we spent the last six songs of the gig getting drenched. As usual on these occasions, we were all in this together and had to put a brave face ( or thousands of faces ) on it. And, as the Manics concluded the set with a colossal If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, James slipped in a few lines from Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. They certainly did. It had been a fantastic gig with two iconic bands playing their hearts out for us, and the slow, shuffling, mud-splattered trudge of legions of sodden fans out of Cardiff Castle was a small price to pay for such an amazing night.

And now, we move on into August for another outstanding, but very different gig...

This was the triumphant return of the original lineup of Sugababes, as seen above in all their sassy glory. I'll have to try and limit my use of the words "sass" and "sassy" ( or variations thereof ) in this post, but that might prove nigh-impossible. Let's count how many times they pop up. ( I'll give you numbers 1 and 2 for free. )

When I first heard this tour was happening I instantly snapped up three tickets, because I knew this was a gig that Sarah, Sophie and myself wouldn't want to miss. ( Sophie, seen above, had already seen Sugababes at Glastonbury this Summer, but more of that later. ) The band had been a pop favourite of ours back in the day ( well, not *that* far back ) and it was another of those no-brainer decisions to see them in good old Bristol. 

The venue was the alternately-named Bristol Amphitheatre or Lloyd's Amphitheatre. If you're ever in Brizzle ( as it's known by everyone but Bristollians in the South West ), head to the Harbourside, keep going past the fountains and the over-priced eateries, until it seems you're about to fall into the harbour, and then you'll find this virtually hidden venue. Probably 2/3 of the size of Castlefield Bowl ( where we saw the mighty Pulp last year ) this open space is mostly home to skateboarders in the daytime, but is now hosting open air gigs. It's a cool space and has some commanding views of the harbourside and the M Shed museum on the opposite bank. In fact, many people were sitting in the August sunshine on another side of the harbour, getting a free soundtrack to their Thursday evening. 

Speaking of which, the first instalment of that soundtrack was provided by up-and-coming R&B singer Tyler Lewis who had the unenviable task of opening the show before thousands of fervent Sugababes fans. Tyler shuffled shyly onto the stage, a slight figure in fairly nondescript streetwear, and it wasn't clear at first if she was one of the acts or if she was just checking sound levels. But then she started her set, accompanied by one bloke on keyboards, and her honeyed but resonant voice belied her seemingly-delicate frame. Singing mostly her own compositions, Tyler certainly had the voice for the occasion, even if the songs lapsed too often for this listener into treacley balladry. Her last song was more of a funky R&B groove and showed how good she could be with a bit more confidence and, yes, sass (3). One to watch for sure.

Definitely not lacking in the sass (2) department was DJ Jaguar who spun some bangin' choons ( as I don't believe the young people say these days ) to get everyone in the party spirit. I heard some women behind me complaining that Jaguar's set was too samey, and it probably was, but it was good fun. And she certainly seemed to be enjoying herself massively on stage. Which was nice.

We even found time to do a selfie, while waiting for the 'babes, Sarah and I miraculously managing to actually stay in the frame for once. ( This was no doubt thanks to Sophie's iPhone skills, rather than our selfie abilities. )

Then, the ear-shattering screams from the crowd told us it was time for the main event as Sugababes took to the stage. Bursting out onto the boards with a tsunami of (t)sass (4) the three OG 'babes kicked off with the huge floor-filler Freak Like Me - you know, the one with that Gary Numan sample - and pretty much started as they meant to go on: havin' it large!

Unlike the Manics / Suede gig, we were there from minute one and had a prime spot front and centre, only a couple of rows from the crowd barrier. This meant we had brilliant views of Keisha, Mutya and Siobhan strutting their funky stuff, although it did mean we didn't get the full force of the actual music, as we were between and below the speakers, which pumped out the sound above our heads. ( Some people are never happy, are they? ) Anyway, that was a minor quibble ( which, to be fair, only bothered me and isn't unusual for open air gigs ) as the show was fantastic.

The three singers, and their smokin' backing band, gave it their all, as they treated us to hit after hit, from the slinky Red Dress to the poignant, autobiographical Ugly to the sass-tastic (5) Hole In The Head. In fact, this was a great reminder of just how many world-beating pop classics the Sugababes put out during their career - it's really an impressive body of work and easily overlooked because they were often dismissed as just another girl group by the intelligentsia. ( Who are those people? )

They all sang beautifully and occasionally stopped the stage-strutting to grab some stools and sit down to properly showcase their gorgeous vocal harmonies. Funnily enough, I always remembered Siobhan as being vocally the weakest from the original lineup, but that proved not to be the case, as her voice was earthy and surprisingly raw at times. ( I'm clearly an idiot. Yet again. ) Keisha, of course, remains the most powerful singer of the trio, but together they all sounded sublime.

The trio struck up an instant rapport with the audience and were very frank in their inbetween-song chats with their fans. They told us how happy they were to be performing again under the Sugababes name, after winning their court case for the right to use it. They had performed briefly under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan but, as they'd formed the group way back when they were 11 (!) years old, it obviously felt good to reclaim the old moniker. Empowerment anthem Stronger said it all: "I had my ups and downs, trials and tribulations / I overcome it day by day" ( Let's just forget that that song originally featured vocals from former 'babe Heidi Range, who was on the other side of the law suit... )

After finishing the set with party anthem Today, the Sugababes came back for a final perfect pop storm of Push The Button, Round Round and the peerless About You Now. Possibly one of the finest encores I've seen for a long time: just fantastic, euphoric songs. We'll definitely have to see Sugababes again, although as said previously, Sophie had already see them at Glasto, when she'd danced with Shania Twain.

Wait... Shania Twain???

Yep, the actual Shania Twain. Sophie had passed an audition to be part of a flash mob during Shania's set on the Pyramid Stage and, after a couple of weeks of rehearsals, found herself dancing at the biggest musical event of the summer. Along with choreographer Lauren Filer and a couple of other dancers, Sophie danced along to That Don't Impress Me, and demonstrated the flash mob moves so the crowd could dance along with the queen of country pop. I don't think Sophie had really appreciated what a big deal Glastonbury was beforehand... but she certainly found out. It was an amazing experience for her ( one which has already gained her more connections in the dance world ) and she also got a free Glasto pass, so also got to see Coldplay, Sugababes, Paloma Faith and much, much more. Here she is below ( in the middle of the photo ) with Lauren and Candice, and a couple of BBC journalists prior to one of many interviews they did for the show.

Sophie, that did impress us much.