What choo talkin' 'bout, Wire?

[Takk]

I don't mind the setlists so much, I just don't like the play-album-in-full format and I find it laughable when Nicky makes comments like this. Their song rotation is nowhere near as big as their back catalogue, unlike some other bands.

[Deets]

haha the funniest thing about the setlist from Wire's mouth I've ever heard!

[Tetsuo]

I agree. A few years ago he was talking about Springsteen-esque setlists which was a bit daft. Springsteen takes signs that have song names written on them off of people in the crowd and puts them all on the stage and picks three or four of them to play. Totally spontanous. During their Use Your Illusion tours Guns n Roses just chose their setlist as they went along too.

There is a mixed demographic of people that go to Manics' gigs like Wire often repeats. The hardcore crazies that want Revol and Intense Hum of Evil and there's people who just got the new album, some guys in suits that just wanna hear something off of This is my Truth ....

It's the same with a lot of bands like the Manics though with a sort of pre-history or catalogue that the hardcore fans wanna see and the fans they picked up along the way when they became famous. Kinda like REM really, the parallels are quite striking. REM do a bette rjob of mixing setlists up I think. I'd love to hear b-sides like Sepia or First Republic or something but I know the score and don't get too worked up over the setlist. They're going to play Motorcycle, they're going to play Design, they're going to play their number 1 single. No use complaining about it even before the gig and then going to gig and complaining more about it after.

As kitsch as it is though some kind poll on their site for a few tunes would be great. They did that for the greatest hits album didn't they?

[fedex]

"mass communication" and an unashamedly commercial sounding album doesnt fill me with hope for a particularly exciting setlist..
please surprise me nick

[Takk]

Well they could play all of emg and timt and that would be a change...gigs should open up the crowd to new songs, otherwise it's just karaoke!

[nocultureicons]

I just want to see them and not be able to guess the whole set. I don't care what they choose, they can play Miss Europa Disco Dancer and despite not liking the song I'd be excited because I didn't expect to hear it.

Even when they ran that poll on their site for the Forever Delayed tour the setlist still came out predominantly singles. The best thing about it was the surprise of hearing Roses in the Hospital.

I often feel like they're embarrassed of their back catalogue, which is a shame because most of it is fantastic.

[Lauren Cinnamon]

I've listened to that radio interview three times now and I still hear Nicky saying that they just had some mixes sent over from LA by Chris O'Dowd what is he actually saying? I can't work it out!

[River Boy]

It is annoying that, with EMG being their most successful album and an immense record, it's always the title track - other than ADFL - that's being played. They could literally pick songs out of a hat from that album and the fans would appreciate it, same with THB, but guitarists learn very quickly that the EMG title track is so very easy to play, which suggests a lack of hard work when preparing for gigs, for which reason they're trying to claim the song has a higher status amongst fans than it actually has.

[Ben]

Just for the record: I didn't mean to start arguments about setlists, I merely enjoyed the irony of Nicky's statement.

Originally Posted by Takk

Well they could play all of emg and timt and that would be a change...

Exactly. Which leads me on to...

Originally Posted by nocultureicons

I don't care what they choose, they can play Miss Europa Disco Dancer and despite not liking the song I'd be excited because I didn't expect to hear it.

Indeed. I've said something similar before. I'd be more than happy to hear songs which I'm not to keen on if it meant hearing something different.

Originally Posted by nocultureicons

Even when they ran that poll on their site for the Forever Delayed tour the setlist still came out predominantly singles. The best thing about it was the surprise of hearing Roses in the Hospital.

I dunno, I got to hear 'Life Becoming A Landslide' at the only gig I went to on the GH tour. I loved it at the time, but if I didn't appreciate it as much then as I would now. It was my first ever Manics gig though, so it was all new and exciting to me.

Originally Posted by nocultureicons

I often feel like they're embarrassed of their back catalogue, which is a shame because most of it is fantastic.

That's definitely the impression I get. It's a real shame.

[Beat Poet]

Originally Posted by Richey83

You know what? If I go to a gig, I consider myself lucky just to have the privilage of seeing and hearing one of my favourite bands of all time performing songs that are so important to me personally.

Massive thumbs up, well said!

[Karmacy]

I still love seeing them live, and have massive respect for them because they DO play their greatest hits, they're not one of those bands that just goes out to play their new album and doesn't give a toss if people are disappointed or not. I have never come away and thought 'that was a bad gig'... maybe some of you need to see them less to appreciate them more again?

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

I think the SATT tour has been the best I've seen the guys on so far since they balanced album tracks and hits very well and gave us all a good, long set with some healthy rotation over the tour. The JFPL tour was also superb, the first half of those two sets being superb - not too keen on the total overkill on hits otherwise.

They do have a massive back catalogue to choose from, they're spoilt for choice to be honest. I hope this tour is as close to the SATT tour as possible, not just in terms of venue size and volume of dates but a good, long, balanced setlist that provides pleasure to the hardcore fans like us on here and the casual fans that just turn up to hear a couple of songs they used to like 10 or 15 years ago (I say ban the casuals but that's a different story altogether).

[Archivesoftherevollover]

Originally Posted by FacelessSenseOfVoid

(I say ban the casuals but that's a different story altogether).

nice one

[mank]

Originally Posted by FacelessSenseOfVoid

I(I say ban the casuals but that's a different story altogether).

yeah how dare people like the manics

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

Originally Posted by mank

yeah how dare people like the manics

I just think it's a better atmosphere if they played in smaller venues to real fans rather than some to a crowd of 30% hardcore fans and 70% pissed up louts just wanting to hear a big hit so they can sing along whilst punching their way through to the front with their fucked up friends!!!!!

Apologies for that little rant.