Manic Street Preachers at The Avalon

Apparently, the Manics haven't been to LA for 10 years so there was very much an air of anticipation inside the Avalon last night! Indeed, the crowd were not disappointed by a brilliant show right from an impecable 'Motorcycle Emptiness' to an anthemic 'Design for Life'. The set was perfectly paced and included a couple of acoustic songs ('Small Black Flowers' and 'This is yesterday') midset before building to a deafening crescendo. Other stand out songs were 'Faster', 'You love us', 'Everything must go', 'You stole the sun from my heart' and a blistering 'Motown Junk' which was preceeded by a minute or so of The Small Faces' 'All or nothing'... Fantastic show - best gig I've been to for ages!