Despite turning up over an hour early Tuts was already packed to the rafters by the time I got there. One guy I spoke to had paid £300 for his ticket on eBay. I felt slightly guilty at telling him mine was only £25.
They started by playing a song that featured last time they played King Tuts 19 years ago - Strip it Down - then proceeded through a Greatest Hits collection that pleased everyone. Everything was there - Motorcycle Emptiness, Little Baby Nothing, Masses Against the Classes, Kevin Carter, Tsunami and even an obscure b-side called Donkeys.
The atmosphere was electric, you could feel the excitement in the air and everyone there, myself included, was walking about with a big grin. The Manics were on good form, joking with the crowd, paying the obligatory respect to Ritchie and Nicky even had time for having a pop at Ed O'Brien for calling him a w**ker.
The crowd only stopped jumping when James stopped to play a couple of acoustic numbers, and were immediately perked up again by the emergence of Nicky in a leopard print purple mini skirt and sailors cap.
Seeing them up close like that was so surreal, I've never seen a band as big as that in a venue so small. It took a good hour or so and a couple of pints to really appreciate what I'd just seen.
Afterwards I met the guy who had paid £300 again and he said it was worth every penny. I couldn't agree more.
Set List:
- Strip It Down
- Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
- Motorcycle Emptiness
- From Despair To Where
- Peeled Apples
- This Is Yesterday
- Kevin Carter
- Tsunami
- Found That Soul
- Little Baby Nothing
- Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
- If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
- Donkeys
- The Everlasting
- You Love Us
- No Surface All Feeling
- The Masses Against the Classes
- Motown Junk
- A Design For Life
