Oxegen 2011 - Manic Street Preachers
Main Stage, Sunday, 5.35pm
Describe in a Tweet: Afternoon Emptiness.
What happened: Let's face it the Manic Street Preachers have been about for a while, and by now they know how to appease a festival crowd. The Welsh trio take to a curiously designed stage, a huge velvet backdrop draping from the rafters as silver sequence mannequins and panthers are dotted about the place, making this afternoon's aesthetic look like something from an adult film set in the future.
Their setlist reads like the back of the greatest hits album Forever Delayed. 'Motorcycle Emptiness' is a stand out while show opener 'You Love Us' is played with the same energy as it was all those years ago. It's just a pity that the crowd don't really take the bait, the atmosphere is dull and sedated as the weekends frolicking catches up with the crowd. Their performance is pitch perfect and the energy levels are high but nobody is taking the bait tonight.
Crazy In Love: Motorcycle Emptiness was the stand out moment, momentarily bringing the Sunday evening punters out of their siesta.
Why Don't You Love Me: Nicky Wire's ridiculously uninspiring speech about Irish and UK politics was more Don King faff than Martin Luther King inspirational.
Oxegen rating: 6/10
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