Fuck Yeah Manics!

“ Manic Street Preachers are one of the few acts to have maintained a no-encore policy from their inception, having performed just one in their 23-year career. But what began as a “deluded manifest to change the world” was tested in 1991 when management goaded them into returning to the stage – only to find that nearly everyone had left. “From that moment on we realised that it wasn’t for us,” says the band’s Nicky Wire. “Even when we played the Millennium Stadium to 65,000 people on New Year’s Eve, we still didn’t do one. It just seems like a gigantic anticlimax. The encore is like a marketing tool; it’s this idea that you’re getting more value for money when really it’s the same songs with a rest in-between. For us it just seems a bit false.” However the Manics have found this a difficult ideal to sustain, often seeing memorable performances soured when audience anticipation turns to boos and bewilderment. “We’ve had a lot of trouble about this, to be honest. Over the years, people involved in the record company would say: ‘We’ve never had this from a band before. Did you hate the audience?’ And we’d be coming off stage thinking it was one of the best gigs we’ve ever done. There have been occasions where a gig has been so rapturous that you do feel that slight inclination. You feel like giving more… but I think we’ve learned from experience. It gives us a little bit of separation as well. “As long as there’s bands like Coldplay there’s always going to be encores. So I’m actually quite proud of it. Not in a superior way; it just feels honourable. I think people respect it and it’s travelled with us. ”