Manic Street Preachers

Mashka

to zamieszczam i proszę o wyrozumiałość dla mojego angielskiego.

It was Thursday 20.01.2011, the day Nicky Wire, bassist of Manic Street Preachers was turning 42. I was sipping whiskey for his happiness in the apartment of my mother's friend in London. On two following nights I was going to see the band playing at Brixton Academy. Something that ten years earlier could have seemed only a pipe dream, was now becoming reality. I already knew what it meant to see Manics in their homeland, where they had been a cult band for many people for almost two decades. You cannot compare the emotions and atmosphere of the Manics gig in the UK to concerts in other countries, especially summer festivals, which are the only occasion to see the band play in Poland. The first time I saw my favourite band in London was in May 2009 and it was an amazing experience, hard to describe with words. When you witness such a great performance, you start to image - could anything ever beat that? That was what I was thinking on the eve of my next Manics gig in London.
On Friday things started not very optimistic. Me and my sister were supposed to be already queuing before Brixton Academy when we left home at 7 pm. To our dismay, trains defects on Victoria line towards Brixton and the police closing the tube station due to stabbing caused further delays, so we reached the venue several minutes past 8 pm, when support band, British Sea Power, were already delivering their set. We were stood far back, many rows before the stage, which was not what we had planned. But the excitement was growing. When the Manics came on stage, smiles appeared on our faces and didn't leave until the last notes of A Design For Life, the last song of the set. People coming in our view, jumping around and awful smell of beer seemed less annoying with every minute. Manics were in top form playing their greatest hits mixed with rare tracks such as my Little Empire, taken from their 1998 album This is my truth tell me yours, which had not been played live for almost ten years. The crowd sang happy birthday to Wire together with James as the introduction to powerful Motown Junk and Nicky seemed the happiest I had seen him in a long time. James gave a beautiful acoustic performance singing This is yesterday (my eyes went in tears) and a beautiful version of You stole the sun from my heart, which, in my opinion, sounded much better than a full band electric version. 22 songs and 1,5 hour went by too quickly, but we had another gig to look forward to so we did not worry. We left the venue and headed for the promotion entrance/exit doors, where other die-hard fans were already waiting for the band to come out. There was not much time left for the last tube and the Manics didn't seem to be in a hurry, so we made our way back home with hopes for the next day.

On Saturday we were more excited and motivated than the day before. Our Polish friends arrived in London in the morning and we agreed to meet in the queue at 5 pm to secure our first row spots. Me and my sister were late again as we reached Brixton Academy at 6 pm, but it was early enough and our friends Ewa and Michał were already waiting for us and holding places in the queue. First row was a top priority for the night - no toilets, no cloak room - only rushing towards the barriers. Our plan worked perfectly well, we all found ourselves in the first row, me standing just before James!! It was the best place I could have ever dreamt of. Not a bad start for the gig! We had a chance to see the full set of supporting band British Sea Power, who played surprisingly well, giving a good warm-up before the kings of the night. I was not sure if it was the place I were stood or something else, but the gig seemed much better than the one on Friday. I had an ideal look on stage with James singing and playing his Gibson Les Paul just in front of me. The crowd was pushing me for the barriers but I was bravely trying to keep my posture straight. I even managed to take some pictures and shoot some pretty good clips during few songs, including beautiful You stole the sun from my heart, which was no doubt one of the gig's highlights with the crowd singing at the top of their voices together with James, who was smiling all the time and praising the audience. The song ended with a nice improvisation from James which earned him a big applause. As A Design for life, a tune which is always played at the end, started, I felt incredibly sad. The best show of my life was just coming to an end. But what an end that was! Before we had a chance to cool down, all four of us went down Astoria Walk, the street surrounding Brixton Academy, to join other fans wanting to meet the Manics. Approximately 20 minutes had passed when we saw him - Nicky Wire in his own person! It was my 8th Manics gig and only the first time I could see him at close distance. I had already my CD booklets prepared to be signed, but it was not easy to get through the crowd. But I finally succeeded. I only regretted not having spoken with Nicky, because I had completely lost my voice after two gigs with sore throat. Ewa had a short chat with Nicky who told her that they were going to play in Poland in the summer at one of the festivals. A club gig is still our dream but festival appearance is something to look forward to. No matter where they are going to play, I will surely be there. We didn't meet James that night either, midnight was drawing near and we had the last train to catch. Tired with excitement but extremely happy we walked towards Brixton tube station.
Will any gig ever beat that? I hope so...

ditta

wspaniała recenzja, Mashka!

Nickuś właśnie wspomniał na twitterze, że podczas majowych koncertów mają w planie zawitać do Niemiec, czy gdyby grali w Berlinie albo gdzieś, ktoś z was by się wybierał?

el_loko

Ja w sumie moglbym, ale to kwestia dokladnej daty i ceny biletow.

Mashka

możliwe, że ja bym się wybrała. sporo zależy od ceny biletów.

ME

hav

SRD

Również bym chętnie pojechała, gdyby ktoś jechał ze śląska Smile

Mashka jeśli ewentualnie byłaby taka możliwość, to bym się chętnie z Tobą zabrała np. z jakiegoś umówionego miejsca.

step

z Bytomia 7 h

SRD

ditta

dla tych planujących jechać do Berlina samochodem, przypominam, że do centrum wjeżdżać mogą auta co najwyżej 10letnie.

jakieś oficjalne informacje nt. trasy powinniśmy mieć jeszcze w tym miesiącu.

Chaosu

Mashka

ditta

Hamburg, a nie Berlin. są pociągi bezpośrednie ze Szczecina do Lubeki, podobno na ten sam bilet można jechać do Hamburga, niestety nie za bardzo czaję o co chodzi z ceną. 22 euro za 5 osób? czy jak?

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

jeśli ktoś zna inne połączenia, miło by było gdyby dał znać.

ME

ditta

no na razie były założenia, że jeden koncert na kraj.
czy ktoś wybierałby się do Hamburga w takiej sytuacji?
przy okazji - ja nie umiem po niemiecku! Sad