Tearing up the remains of their theatrical entrance music, the Manic Street Preachers began their Reading and Leeds Festival warm-up gig at Newport Centre with a louder-than-King-Kong-on-a-bad-day version of 1994’s ‘Faster’. Over a decade since they last played at the sports-hall-come-music-arena, James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore appeared, charged with the energy of fifty Duracell rabbits and the same youthful spirit as when they last killed silence in their home county.

Packing in a pitch-perfect set, featuring both old material and tracks from their more recent albums, the Welsh heroes served up a sumptuous smorgasbord of musical treats to keep the timeline of attending fans bouncing the soles off their sweaty shoes for almost two hours. Songs that have gained a permanent place in their setlist over the years, such as ‘You Stole The Sun’ and ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’, were polished off to a tee almost effortlessly. Stirring two covers into the song-cauldron, the Manics aired their toughened-up rendition of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ [which wasn't too cringey, despite the exaggeratedly-happy keyboard, and was the nearest the pop princess will get to a full-blown guitar solo] and Nirvana’s ‘Pennyroyal Tea’. The latter, according to Wire, was a favourite of Richie Edwards, the band’s never-to-be-forgotten guitarist and the hand behind their bold and honest lyrics on their first albums, who went missing in 1995. Continue Reading