The support act, singer songwriter Gwenno plus guitar/bass/drums was a new first for me - the first Cornish language set I have been at. Well actually I think the first few songs were in Welsh but she is clearly bilingual as the last few were definitely in Cornish. She was good, plenty of attitude and a nice voice. Not sure what the songs were about......
The Manics were touring their 1998 album, 'This is my truth, tell me yours' and it is not an album I have although I do know a number of the tracks on it. They just launched straight into it and for the first hour or so played pretty much the whole album. There were two rhythm guitarists backing up James Dean Bradley on guitar and a keyboards player to augment, Nicky Wire on Bass and Sean Moore on Drums. They are a good combo of anthemic, gritty and political and JDB is a very fine singer and guitarist. He did just one track without the band (except for the keyboards) which was 'Born a Girl' and that was particularly welcome as the sound was a little muddy up to that point. JDB's guitar was generally low key until they played 'Black Dog on My Shoulder' and from then on he laid down some beautiful solos and rhythm guitar on pretty much every track, notably on 'Prologue to History'. The last song in the album section was of course 'If you tolerate this then your children will be next' which got a suitable audience response for such a great song. They continued playing other songs from the catalogue with JDB continuing great guitar playing. I particularly like 'Motorcycle Emptiness' but it was ll good stuff. Last track as on previous gigs was 'design for Life' and then they were gone. It's great they are the local band for us now and I note that the album was recorded in our local Rockfield Studios. They are a great home band to have.
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