What do you get when you mix pouring rain, an iconic Britpop band, arguably the greatest Welsh band of all time, and a castle on a Friday night? You get the first of two shows at Cardiff Castle for the Manics and Suede on their co-headline tour. The weather could definitely be better (if only the Normans or the Bute family had thought of putting a roof in!), but the spirits are not to be dampened.

Tonight, as with the other Welsh dates on the tour, Suede are up first. Whilst the band are on time, it appears a few hundred people are at a standstill outside, held up by security for reasons unclear. By the time things finally move, Suede are already on their second song – 1997’s Trash – and sounding great.

Wasting no time, Brett Anderson tells the crowd “it’s time to release the animal!” before a double whammy of early singles Animal Nitrate and The Drowners sees him writhe around the stage and into the crowd like a man half his age. There’s a plethora of hits alongside some album cuts such as Metal Mickey, Saturday Night, and closer Beautiful Ones fitting in nicely alongside the likes of Heroine (a “special song for James” according to Brett), By The Sea and a new song, Antidepressants. 

On screen, an Anne Sexton quote – “I am a collection of dismantled almosts” – looms as the Manics take to the stage to a remixed version of their own 1985. James declares “croeso I Castell Caerdydd!” before the band launch into You Love Us, quickly followed by Everything Must Go and Motorcycle Emptiness. There’s a quite frankly silly amount of singalongs in the set this evening, with Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, A Design For Life, You Stole The Sun From My Heart and more being back by an adoring Welsh crowd – but there’s also room for the likes of To Repel Ghosts from the band’s recently-reissued 2004 album Lifeblood, as well as Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier, the opening track of 1996’s Everything Must Go.

Add to that an unexpected surprise in the form of The Anchoress, popping up to contribute vocals to the brilliant Little Baby Nothing which Nicky dedicates to the late, great Richey Edwards. Finishing with If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, the Manics show why they remain so loved in their homeland with yet another arms-aloft singalong to send crowd and band off into the soggy Welsh night.

Manic Street Preachers + Suede, Cardiff Castle, Fri 5 July

words JOSHUA WILLIAMS photos SIMON AYRE