Too many numbers, numbers, numbers

Last week, Manic Street Preachers performed a six-song-set at the Festival Hall in London, supporting Doves, to celebrate the birthday of their first record label, Heavenly Records. The band put out two singles on that label in 1990 and 91 before moving on to bigger and (eventually) better things. Listening to the bootleg of the show, it's fun to hear the older, wiser band tearing through songs written when they were so much younger and angrier. Hard to imagine the Brit award winning, happily married Manics of 2008 writing a song called 'Ceremonial Rape Machine', isn't it? And it was a jolt to hear 'Starlover' played live. My favourite song from the set, though, is one of my all-time faves by the band, 'Sorrow 16'. Rarely played live, it sounded mature and polished at the Festival Hall. In other words, it wasn't interesting at all. So here's the original version. Again, it's ok for a young band to sing about class struggle and "paint your ego in blood", but it'd be ridiculous if they did it now. Seventeen or so years ago, though, it was pretty cool, and the song remains a whole lot of fun, particularly Nicky Wire's gleeful shout of "...in HATE".

[download Manic Street Preachers - Sorrow 16]