Welsh rock legends Manic Street Preachers have announced that their two December gigs in support of the NHS will be rearranged for next July due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. The Manics had been due to see out 2020 with two sold-out Cardiff gigs in December; with a free concert for NHS staff followed by a fundraiser for NHS charities. The back-to-back gigs have been rearranged for the 16th and 17th July 2021 respectively, with all tickets remaining valid for the rescheduled dates.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions for the live music industry, the Manics have moved their previously announced shows in December at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena to Fri 16th & Sat 17th July 2021. All tickets remain valid.
More info: https://t.co/s5HVozPG4c pic.twitter.com/3tYIRMFutk
— ManicStreetPreachers (@Manics) October 14, 2020
The rescheduled July performances could now coincide with the release of the Blackwood rockers’ as-yet-unnamed fourteenth studio album, set for release on a date to be confirmed next summer. Earlier this year bassist Nicky Wire hinted that the new record would move in a different musical direction to 2018’s Resistance Is Futile, telling NME that: “It’s very broad – it feels like an expansive record. Resistance Is Futile certainly felt more tight and ‘pop’ in a Manics sense. Everything was really melodic and concise. This album just feels broader. It’s got a wider landscape, sonically.”
Manics’ singer and lead guitarist James Dean Bradfield has also been busy this year promoting his critically-acclaimed summer solo release Even in Exile, inspired by the life of the murdered Chilean musician and activist Victor Jara. The album, which reached number 6 in the UK charts in August, was also accompanied by a three-part podcast series, Inspired By Jara.
The Manics had already anticipated the likelihood of needing to rearrange the NHS gigs, with James Dean Bradfield telling NME in the summer that the Gwent trio would “play those gigs, eventually, whatever happens.” In the same interview the multi-talented frontman spoke of the band’s desire to give back to the NHS, whose creator Aneurin Bevan famously inspired the title of their classic 1998 album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.
Bradfield said “We just saw the struggle. I know a lot of people around me who work for the NHS and you could see the immediate strain that they were all under. We’re talking about proper stress from proper hard work that you’d never ever begin to realise how hard it is. They’re under immense strain. The NHS is the biggest employer in Wales, and all around us we saw people giving and giving and giving and not getting enough back. We just thought that this should be for them.”
2021 will also mark the 20th anniversary of the band’s Gold-certified 2001 album Know Your Enemy, and the subsequent Louder Than War gigs in Havana which saw them become the first western rock band to play in Cuba. Fans might expect some of the album’s most enduring songs – including singles So Why So Sad, Ocean Spray and Let Robeson Sing – to feature on Manics’ set lists next year.
