Holy amazing gig, Batman!

Manic Street Preachers and Doves at the Heavenly Records birthday celebration.

As the Manic Street Preachers throttle to the end of Starlover for only the second time in 19 years, bassist Nicky Wire issues a grinning disclaimer. "You can tell that me and Richey were 19 when we wrote those lyrics. You have to make a fool of yourself when you're young." Starlover was one of six tracks the band recorded for Heavenly in 1990. Two others, Motown Junk and You Love Us, were immeasurably better: musical paintbombs consisting of Clash riffs, Guns N' Roses solos, Public Enemy samples and absurdly pugnacious rhetoric, as electrifying now as they were then.

...

Even when the lyrics are streaked with melancholy, the Motown-flavoured Black and White Town and rave-minded new song Jetstream have the exultant velocity of piano-house anthems, and There Goes the Fear sweeps the hall to its feet, all the way up to the balcony, in a spirit of celebration and camaraderie that seems distinctly Heavenly.