This is a little late I know- it’s been well over a week since this gig took place. But hey, that’s the nature of blogging…

This was the first gig I’d been to in the redeveloped Millenium Dome in Greenwich, now home to all manner of corporate sponsored delights including an 18,000 capacity concert arena. The venue is suprisingly good; the sound is decent, except at the very front, and it’s quite surprising how easy it is to get to the barrier given the size of the crowd. The standing area itself doesn’t feel much bigger than a standard club venue; clearly you wouldn’t get the same experience from the stands, but then if you’ve ever made the mistake of buying a seated ticket for a rock gig, you’ll know that already.

The Cribs have brought Johnny Marr with them to help out on guitar duties. The veteran Smiths axe-smith adds a welcome clout to their sound as they run through the best cuts from Men’s Needs, including Be Safe, with Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo’s spoken word part projected onto the screen behind them. So many big names in indie recognise their excellence so why aren’t they put higher on the bill and given a longer set? Instead we get NME luvvies The Klaxons, who take to the stage dressed in black robes with pixie hoods. During their set you sometimes wonder whether you’re at a prog rock concert, an indie rock gig or a rave. Girls wave glowsticks at the edge of the crowd while guys slam dance in the middle. It all whiffs a bit of art student wankiness; everyone else seems to enjoy it, but I’m looking at my watch before too long.

Bloc Party are another matter all together, having both the guitar riffs (Helicopter) and synth riffs (Flux) to combine rock and rave and make it work. Kele Okereke clearly lives for playing live, and the smile on his face during Flux and The Prayer reveals how pleased he is that the band’s new direction has gone down well with fans. They easily provide the best performance so far and everyone seems exhausted by the time they leave the stage. It’s probably fair to say that the Kaiser Chiefs would never have achieved the status they have without charismatic frontman Ricky Wilson. Essentially they are an updated and Northern version of Blur, with all the positives and negatives that entails. The predicable riot occurs during I Predict A Riot, and Ricky Wilson dives in the crowd on two occasions, the second time balancing along the perimeter wall to reach the very centre of the area. All good fun, but rather lacking the substance and depth of the bands billed either side of them.

Which brings us to Manic Street Preachers, who have landed the headlining slot after being given the Godlike Genius award by the NME. Rather bizarrely they are welcomed on-stage by a leopard skin clad Scottish marching band. Once the pipers have gone, the Manics open their set by blasting through some of their fastest and heaviest songs; Masses Against The Classes, Motorcycle Emptiness, Autumnsong, You Love Us (featuring Tom Clarke from The Enemy on rhythm guitar) and Faster. Later in the set Catatonia’s Cerys Matthews joins the band for Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, and the cover of Rhianna’s Umbrella (below) is pure comedy.

More videos from all of the bands who played can be found on philporter1974’s YouTube channel. I’m a little concious that this blog is becoming something of a Manic’s lovefest, so I won’t say much more about their set except that it was damn good. What’s interesting to me is that when the Manics started out they set themselves against the indie mainstream, and now the indie mainstream is awarding them accolades, and they are quite happy to except them. So, what has changed? Certainly the Manics have changed, become older, more mellow and less combative than they were previously. But also indie music has change immensely in the last 15 years, with little evidence now of the awful baggy/shoegazing trends which were prevalent when the Manics first emerged. This is undoubtedly a good thing, and shows that whilst it might now be a little past its sell-by date the post punk revival has had a very positive effect on indie music during the past five years.