Oh shit, Richey actually playing guitar instead of miming! It actually sounds pretty nice if you focus in on it. Shame he didn't play often, but his lyrical genius definitely made up for that in spades.
such a great song - the anger and rage from James is incredible! Inspite of the looming tragedy that lay ahead this really was the very high point of this band.
The greatest live performance of the greatest single ever released. The mixing shambles has just become part of it. Always remember thinking there was something wrong with my "If You Want Blood...." bootleg! PIL intro, balaclava, shouting, confrontation, Richey and Nick at their peak, nailing the solo, military post - punk drum genius. The pinnacle of music.
ignoring the Manics for the last ~23 years has been a wonderful idea. Now I can spend weeks listening to every single song and live recording I can find from them for the first time and scream with joy whenever I find something new. utterly fantastic band!
Riff, riff, riff, all while singing like that !! I wish I had ever been within a small percentage of this man's talent during my brief stint doing the same job !! James Dean Bradfield, you sir are a bona fide rock god !!
too bad... that most of "man-un-kind" would never understand this. The passion/fury, the ferocious delivery of the "live set"... the poke at PiL (if you know about THEM, you know that everything is a poke... a hint, or a reference) the wardrobe selection and the image projected all connect. Watch this twice... and take it all in. BEAUTIFUL!
If there was one ever set I would loved to have been at this was it. Gutted, the Manics at their very best and Glastonbury before it went truly commercial and full of poncy glancing types and girls with short shorts and hunter wellies on. Think was even in the good old days of channel 4 doing the coverage. Still, off to see the Holy Bible gig at the roundhouse this Dec....just a shame it's not gonna be raw like this, still a fookin top ten album of mine.
This exact performance of this very song was the highlight of the bands entire history! I had this on a bootleg back in the 90's and it would send shivers down my spine!
I was 11 you, so I’ve missed it all at that time. I just wish I was 18/20 for being there! It’s only me having meloncholy of a time never lived in?🤷♀️
I dont think the rest of the band saw it coming, Richey was in the best frame of mind he'd been in for along time.But who knows what was going round his head, i know hes still sadly missed by loads of fans.I was never lucky enough to see them as a 4 piece very jealous!!!! seen them 6 times thoe.
Absolutely perfect up until the 1 minute mark when James' guitar gets turned down. Sound guy assuming Richey was the lead guitarist I guess? There's a video knocking around of the same thing happening during a performance of La Tristesse Durera.
This was my 1st time hearing the manics all those years ago i loved it. I think i was on acid anyway been a fan ever since. If i want to annoy my kids i play holy Bible 😂😂😂
Richey only mimed in the real early days.. he got a lot better at the end, which is why he's turned up so loud here.There's one video floating around where James' guitar dies during Motown Junk and Richey plays about half the song by himself. :)
Such a powerful song. Sometimes it makes me wonder what the HELL happened to Richey... Yeah, he disappeared, but that's our truth... I wanna know his...
The gig your looking for is one of the London Astoria gigs from Dec 94, the last they played with Richey. They played 3 nights 19,20 and 21 think its the 20th where Richey takes over lead on Motown Junk much to the delight of James im sure its on youtube somewhere.
O.K perhaps it was only in the early days that his guitar was plugged in but switched off. I was actually thinking of seeing the band at one of the (three?) nights they played in the Astoria back in December 1994 but I wasn't really into the band at the time and didn't bother.Weird really considering I reckon the Holy Bible is one of my top ten fav albums of all time....I came to them a bit too late.
Listen to "Motown Junk" live at London Astoria 94. There's a point that James' guitar cuts out and you can hear Richey covering for it. He didn't mime in The Holy Bible tour, at least.
Thats pretty much describing Richeys behaviour to a t. I think Richey knew he couldnt take the band in the direction he wanted it to go in....even more extreme than The Holy Bible era, this was also a factor in his last few months with the band.In the end he did what he wanted to do.His disappearance freed the band up abit and left a massive hole in one go, is he still around? ive got my doubts.
Some silly sausage at the gig itself decided to turn down the mix of all the instruments. Hence the rapid reduction in volume and aggression. Clowns. What a great performance though.
