Manic Street Preachers played with a second guitarist onstage last night (December 4) for the first time since RICHEY EDWARDS disappeared.
Opening their UK tour at Brighton Centre, the band were joined by Guy Massey, who stood at the back right hand side of the stage next to regular keyboard player Nick Naysmith.
But speaking to NME.COM about the move, bassist Nicky Wire explained: “It was a difficult decision to come to, but we just needed (another guitarist) desperately. We always have done, James has played three guitarist parts at times, and done backing vocals at the same time.
“Guy is an Abbey Road engineer who’s engineered a lot of our records. We’ve known him since 1996. We always knew he was a good guitarist, and it’s not like a big obtrusive thing, it’s not like he’s replacing Richey, good God no. Like I said tonight when we played ‘This Is Yesterday’, I sat at my desk and wrote the lyrics to ‘This Is Yesterday’ with Richey and nothing’s ever gonna replace that. It’s just a musical thing.”
As well as touring the new album ‘Lifeblood’, the band played songs from their classic 1994 album ‘The Holy Bible’ – ‘Faster’, ‘Yes’, ‘Die In The Summertime’ and ‘This Is Yesterday’. A tenth anniversary, three-disc edition of the album is released tomorrow.
Support came from Hope Of The States, with Razorlight playing the rest of the tour, which continues tonight in Belfast (December 5).
Wire said of the choices: “I just love the fucking deluded arrogance like we had. I was reading Johnny from Razorlight saying ‘I’m better than Bob Dylan already’ – good on you! Fuck it! The sixties are shit! Well done! Same with Hope Of The States, they might feel a little bit deflated about how their album’s done, but it’s a great album, so fuck it.”
The setlist was:
’1985’
’Faster’
’If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’
’No Surface, All Feeling’
’Empty Souls’
‘You Love Us’
’Yes’
’The Love Of Richard Nixon’
’Australia’
’La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)’
’This Is Yesterday’
’Solitude Sometimes Is’
’The Masses Against The Classes’
’Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky’
’I Live To Fall Asleep’
’You Stole The Sun From My Heart’
’A Song For Departure’
’Tsunami’
’Die In The Summertime’
’Motorcycle Emptiness’
’A Design For Life’