An intelligent, snarling gang of deservedly arrogant punks, the Manic Street Preachers always inspired devotion from their fans. And in the process they got more people reading high-literature than a million school-suggested reading lists or Richard & Judy Book Clubs ever could.

The disappearance of lyricist Richey Edwards in February 1995 saw this blind loyalty called into question after a series of tepid albums fell short of the standards set by the band’s classics The Holy Bible and Everything Must Go. But an unprecedented wave of enthusiasm has followed the release of Journal for Plague Lovers, the new Manics record that features segments from an archive of Richey’s lyrics. And tonight’s HMV Forum show is a jubilant return to form.

Support act New Young Pony Club make an admirable effort in front of the Manics’ notoriously stony hardcore crowd, and The Bomb shimmers with an unexpected intensity. But their sex and synths float over the majority of the cult of Richey.

It’s a testament to the power of Journal for Plague Lovers that the Welsh three-piece’s opening five songs are all from it, and feel celebratory rather than self-indulgent. Lyrically more humorous and delicate than Edward’s usually acerbic contributions, Jackie Collins Existential Question Time (see video, above), Me and Stephen Hawking and This Joke Sport Severed are received as reverently as anything from their back catalogue.

While the gap left by Edwards hasn’t been filled, his unearthed lyrical treasures ensure his shadow looms comfortingly over the performance. The Forum are slower on the uptake than the ferocious fans at the recent Roundhouse gigs, but Motorcycle Emptiness and its diatribe on consumerism whips the crowd into something like a frenzy.

Faster remains the ultimate outsider anthem, with the crowd tearing at their throats to match James Dean Bradfield’s caustic staccato delivery. Motown Junk is played with all the rage of the ghosts of the Manics’ youth, and If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, praising those who fought the rise of fascism during the Spanish civil war, sees the poignancy of its message elevated in the light of recent political developments. A fact that Bradfield himself notes.

After a twenty year career that’s seen the extremes of triumph and adversity, to find the Manics so impassioned and reenergised is as shocking as it is a privilege. Where just a few years ago you’d have written them off as the sort of self-parodying relics they themselves would once have attacked, it now seems there are pages yet to be written in the journal of the Manic Street Preachers’ success.

Who:
Manic Street Preachers

Where:
HMV Forum, Kentish Town

When:
Monday, June 8