Live Report: Manic Street Preachers at 3Olympia

Now a going concern for 40 years, it is testament to the richness of Manic Street Preachers' catalogue – last year's Critical Thinking being their 15th album – that such fervour still surrounds their shows. When announced earlier in the year, this Olympia gig quickly sold out, with a second date following swiftly on its heels.

In a lovely touch, rather than a support act, the band have opted for a pre-show warm-up mix, assembled from tapes curated by much-missed lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards, which soundtracked their tours around Ireland and the UK in the early '90s. Thus, I'm in my seat early to hear the compilation, which offers an intriguing insight into the nascent Manics' musical DNA, with tunes from Guns N' Roses, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Stones, the Pistols, Prince and Sinead O'Connor, as well as sundry post-punk deep cuts.

Eventually, the music fades, and the group arrive and launch into the evergreen 'Motorcycle Emptiness', prompting the first of several singalongs. After a gorgeous 'Ocean Spray' – frighteningly, now quarter-of-a-century old – the Manics' tear into a blistering 'Faster' from their 1994 masterpiece, The Holy Bible. As teased out on the recent Hot Press Classics episode on the album, for me, it more accurately diagnoses the socio-political malaise of the 2020s than any contemporary record.

'Faster' itself is the epitome of the album's theme of personal disintegration mirroring political collapse, Edwards' venomous monologue – cold and alienated, equal parts self-disgust and self-aggrandisement – conveying an intellect eating itself, like Johnny in Mike Leigh's Naked, cranked up to 11.

Manic Street Preachers at 3Olympia on October 21st, 2026. Copyright Jason Doherty/hotpress.com

Elsewhere, when not in adversarial Holy Bible mode, declaring war on everyone – including their own audience – the Manics can actually be pretty damn cordial hosts. Frontman James Dean Bradfield encourages everyone to clap along during 'You Stole The Sun From My Heart', which frankly qualifies as "working the crowd" – verboten during the Manics' more militant phases, but a winning strategy tonight.

With an injury profile to match Eden Hazard – I remember him being similarly crocked at this venue on '09's Journal For Plague Lovers tour – Nicky Wire explains his trademark scissor kicks have been toned down, but he still sounds in fine fettle on 'Hiding In Plain Sight', strumming along as he takes over lead vocal duties.

As ever, the soaring 'A Design For Life' is a total knockout, before the temperature is taken down with a Bradfield solo acoustic section. Beginning with an exquisite 'From Despair To Where', the singer then asks for requests on the next tune, eventually settling on the Holy Bible opener 'Yes' – certainly not lyrically straightforward in the 'Wonderwall' sense, but another singalong favourite nonetheless. From there til the end, it's all highlights.

Manic Street Preachers at 3Olympia on October 21st, 2026. Copyright Jason Doherty/hotpress.com

The rest of the band rejoin for a stirring 'The Everlasting', accompanied by footage of the Welsh coastline in all its melancholy majesty. Having earlier paid tribute to the late Bonnie Tyler by interpolating a snippet of 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' on the intro to 'No Surface All Feeling', Bradfield then invokes another departed icon, dedicating a cover of Blondie's classic 'Union City Blue' to the NYC group's drummer, Clem Burke.

The most powerful and haunting moment comes with another Bible classic, 'Die In The Summertime', which Wire introduces by saying, "We're going to play this with just the three of us – but in reality, it's four." Accompanied by unsettling red and black imagery, the song's eerie goth textures and chainsaw guitar riff – like Trent Reznor producing the Sex Pistols – remain electrifying.

The band then sign off with the futurist political treatise, 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next', its theme of resistance again uncannily capturing the atmosphere of 2026. For good measure, the tune – amidst another mass singalong – even climaxes with confetti explosions. As ever, there's no encore.

Nonetheless, you can count me in for the next instalment. An absolutely incredible evening.