pair of aces

It is difficult to visualize a double bill as well done as the one that has been combining in the same tour of the United Kingdom to suede and Manic Street Preacherswith both bands emerging under the protection of the same generation and remaining in history based on legendary titles from the nineties. And yet, the two groups still show a validity far from any suspicion, with trajectories supported by magnificent recent albums. Welsh and English have been exchanging positions on stage throughout a nine-date tour that, last Friday night, landed at the O2 Arena in London with (almost) all of its 20,000 tickets sold.

In the British capital they were Manic Street Preachers those in charge of opening the evening, with a very powerful concert in which James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore showed off their marked muscles, accompanied by two additional musicians in charge of second guitar and keyboard. An intimidating review of that literary and almost poetic epic brand of the house, which began by combining nothing less than “Motorcycle Emptiness”, “Everything Must Go”, “Ocean Spray”, “La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)” and “You Stole the Sun From My Heart”. An incontestable beginning that would later include other classics such as “Your Love Alone Is Not Enough”, “The Everlasting” (in a first acoustic section only with Bradfield and then completed by the entire combo) or “Slash ‘n’ Burn”, skipped with pieces from what is their latest delivery (and the most rounded in a long time), “Critical Thinking” (Sony, 25), in the case of “Decline & Fall” or “Hiding in Plain Sight” (in the mouth of Wire), which were even more credible live and, under the protection of that very powerful execution of the combo, fit perfectly together with the classics section. Brardfield’s haunting performance, the glam charisma of bassist Nicky Wire and the certainty applied to the drums by Moore – all seasoned with that enviable catalog amassed over more than three decades – resulted in a simply devastating concert. A victory completed, in the final stretch, with “Die In The Summertime”, “You Love Us” and a disarming “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next”, in which there was also no lack of memory for the late Richey Edwards (“we will always be four,” Wire recalled).

Quite a commitment for those destined to take the tables after such a display of power at all levels… if it were not for the fact that it was the turn of those Suede who, led by the incombustible Brett Anderson, are possessors of an incendiary live performance. As if that were not enough, the quintet was playing at home and with them, in addition to the usual anthems, there is always room for surprises. A date to which they arrived with “Antidepressants” (BMG, 25) still smoking, and from which magnificent readings of “Disintegrate”, “Antidepressants” itself or “June Rain” fell.

As novelties, an exciting double-sided version of “Saturday Night”, started with Anderson accompanied only by Neil Codling’s keyboard in a slowed down reinterpretation that ended with the entire band accelerating the piece, the priceless B-side “Killing Of A Flashboy”, the not so usual (and fiery) “We Are The Pigs”, the still unreleased “Tribe” or an acoustic “Still Life” that ended with the vocalist performing a cappella and without micro (remember, in front of 20,000 souls). A layout between drama and the smell of a wet street; between elegance and punk; between glamor and viscerality, completed with common moments of collective celebration such as “Trash”, “Animal Nitrate”, “Beautiful Ones”, the not-so-usual “Everything Will Flow” or “Filmstar”, to which we added a “She Still Leads Me On” dedicated to mothers and which led to pure tears.

suede and Manic Street Preaches They share some common lines, but they stratospherically enhance their value thanks to their marked specificities. In any case, they always macerated perfectly, in a connection that materialized during the nineties in several joint tours. A custom that they have now seen fit to recover to, in the case of their London date, show off their chest. For its glorious past, but also for the excellent present that they are enjoying (also extended to the live level) and, ultimately, for its manifest timelessness. And, incidentally, to leave a vivid historical night full of emotions, memories and feelings that no one who was there will ever forget.