I did a review over on my Comics Blog but to be honest, I’m still wrestling with the fact that Genshiken has finally ended with the release of the final volume of the manga. There’s probably more of the anime adaptation to come because they’ve only made it up to Volume 7 so far, but even so it’s not quite the same thing. It doesn’t help that Volume 9 has been a real rollercoaster of emotions:
They left so much unsaid.
Hold me.
Or: my somewhat annotated setlist for the Manics at Brixton Academy, 12/12/07. It’s almost embarrassing to admit at this point, but I can reconcile it with my desire to be cool - the gig was fucking great, and I had a lot of fun. Despite the utter lack of credibility the band now enjoy, they can play better than ever, so if you ignore the new shite and concentrate on the good, it’d bound to be great.
They opened with the 2002-rerelease version of Motorcycle Emptiness. Yesterday I read Gillen’s review of the greatest hits which (aside from reminding me why I shouldn’t try to be a music journalist, because it’s not so much in different league to me as being another game altogether) had this to say about that song:
This is a constructed machine made for the sole purpose of putting your soul on the rack and tearing it apart. Put it like this: If the skies open, and Armageddon started to rain down on us, I’d put on Motorcycle Emptiness, look up at the sky and await the end.
Seeing it live, it’s hard to disagree. There are some songs that, through repetition, become stale. Everytime I’ve seen Motorcycle Emptiness it has, if anything, improved. The second thing they played was, unfortunately, Autumnsong, and the only kind thing I can say is that at least they got it out of the way. Next was You Love Us, a song that has not escaped the staleness curse, I’m afraid. The surprising stand-out track of the night was next - Roses In The Hospital. They upped the contrast on the singing/shouting bits so it sounded better than it ever has, and the juxtaposition of “we don’t want your fucking love” immediately after You Love Us amused me. After the song, Nicky wondered aloud why they didn’t put that on the greatest hits and instead included So Why So Sad, saying “So Why So Sad? So Why So SHIT?” Some time around now, James asked if we were enjoying the Old Manics trip, and they then played Everything Must Go.
Unfortunately, they persist in including Ocean Spray in the set, and that was next, and then they started playing Slash ‘n’ Burn, so I took that as my cue to force my way down into the pit. Surprisingly easy, even if I did get a few dirty looks as I “excused” my way past people. For some godless reason they followed that with I Am Just A Patsy.
My favourite part of the gig, though, was probably this. They played a B-Side to the unreleased Motorcycle Emptiness re-release single that was cancelled (though it later showed up on the B-Sides collection the following year). This song, apart from being the best thing the Manics have written this century, is so obscure I never expected to hear it live. It literally would not have crossed my mind to see it played, ever. And they fucking played it! It is, of course, Forever Delayed.
Aftwards, Nicky described being stuck for Lyrics to a song while co-writing with Richey and eventually they decided to steal from a suicide note (Van Gogh’s, if my Manic’s history is still correct) and came up with the next song, La Tristesse Durera. They followed by announcing that they’d be playing a track from the “black sheep of Manics albums, Lifeblood” which drew actual boos from the crowd, amusing the band. Then they played the one passable track off Lifeblood, 1985, but I have to admit it wasn’t very good live. Then they played the one passable track off Send Away the Tigers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough. And for some odd reason, they wheeled out Kevin Carter. A dutiful vesion of If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next followed, then everyone except James left the stage in preparation for the acoustic set.
There are a few tracks they regularly play on these and for some irritating reason I always miss the gigs where they play Small Black Flowers, but we did get This Is Yesterday, and a traditional Manics medley consisting of Over the hills and far away into Last Christmas into Suicide Is Painless. James managed to fuck up the lyrics twice and the second time, as he realised what he’d done and went silent exclaimed “i’ve forgotten the damn lyrics!” Still as professional as ever.
The band came back and they played Send Away The Tigers which I was frankly shocked to see being sung along to by a large portion of the crowd. Doesn’t matter how shit the new material is, there are still people who actually listen to it, and god forbid, LEARN it. Definite winner of the “best moshpit” award goes to the second medley, this time of She Sells Sanctuary into Motown Junk. Nary have I screamed so loud or thrown myself so energetically around during a song, and that was before they even go to Motown Junk, after which point it was complete insanity for almost 3 minutes. It basically finished me off for the rest of the night because I had almost nothing left in me afterwards.
As I was recovering by leaning on one of the intermediary barriers, Nikki appeared right behind me, totally by chance, having come down to get a better view during Motown Junk. The band played Little Baby Nothing, You Stole The Sun From My Heart, during which I had another jump around in reverance to one of my earliest moshpit experiences, when they played this at V99, then the did Masses Against The Classes and capped the evening off with A Design For Life (er, for a change.) As they left the stage Nicky did some skipping while James mocked him, then he put Nicky on his shoulders and carried him off.
Leaving the venue, I could tell from the frost on the windows that it was freezing, but in just a t-shirt I didn’t feel the cold at all.
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