Manic Street Preachers recall "nearly frightening" time supporting Oasis

3 February 2025, 17:55 | Updated: 3 February 2025, 18:22

Manic Street Preachers on Oasis & the reality of being in a band!

By Jenny Mensah

The Welsh rockers have looked back at the supporting the Manchester band at their height of their fame.

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Manic Street Preachers have reminisced about supporting Oasis and looked forward to the band's reunion dates.

The Welsh rockers are preparing to release their 15th studio album Critical Thinking on 14th February and frontman James Dean Bradfield and bassist Nicky Wire spoke to Chris Moyles about everything from the new record to their memories touring with the Britpop band.

"We supported them a lot and its some of the best gigs I've ever seen," recalled guitarist Nicky Wire. "Like Maine Road for instance. I thought Maine Road was going to fall apart. I've never seen a stadium shake like that. It was nearly frightening."

Frontman James Dean Bradfield joked: "Maine Road was waiting to fall down at that point. It was like, 'Oh my god. What's gonna happen?'"

Wire - whose real name is Nicholas Allen Jones - added: "We toured with them in America when they sort of cancelled the tour halfway through, which was brilliant. There was so much jeopardy and anxiety and they were really excitingly on the edge".

"'Cause Liam didn't turn up because he was moving house," remembered James Dean Bradfield.

"He said I didn't have a house, so the first two gigs Noel sang and we'd be finished at half seven every night. Good hotels."

James Dean Bradfield added: "It wasn't us falling apart for once!"

"I'm pretty sure they'll be pretty amazing on this stuff," injected the bassist when speaking about their forthcoming reunion dates, which will see them play the UK & Ireland, North America, South American, Australia, North Korea and Japan.

When asked if they never had 'the call,' to support the Gallagher brothers this time around James Dean Bradfield joked: "I think they wanna get younger bands, so they went for Cast."

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Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher and Manic Street Preachers
Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher and Manic Street Preachers. Picture: Simon Emmett, Alex Lake

The veteran rockers - completed by Sean Moore - will head out on their own live dates this year to support their new record, which will include two homecoming shows at Swansea Arena on 9th and 10th May.

The band have also been announced as special guests for Bloc Party's headline date at Live At Leeds In The Park, following a slot at Bearded Theory festival.

Visit manicstreetpreachers.com/tour for their full dates so dar and to buy tickets.

See Manic Street Preachers' 2025 dates:

April 2025 

  • Fri 11th Glasgow Barrowland 
  • Sat 12th Glasgow Barrowland 
  • Fri 18th London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire 
  • Sat 19th London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire 
  • Fri 25th Wolverhampton The Civic at the Halls 
  • Sat 26th Bristol Beacon

May 2025

  • Fri 2nd Manchester O2 Apollo 
  • Sat 3rd Manchester O2 Apollo 
  • Fri 9th Swansea Arena 
  • Sat 10th Swansea Arena
  • Weds 21st Bearded Theory Festival, Catton Par, Derbyshire
  • Sat 24th Live At Leeds In The Park

Critical Thinking, out on 14th February 2025, is available to pre-order in various formats at the Manic Street Preachers store.

The bassist and songwriter provides lead vocals on the album's first single, Hiding in Plain Sight, which you can listen to below:

Manic Street Preachers - Hiding in Plain Sight (Official Video)

Previously speaking about the record, Nicky Wire said: “This is a record of opposites colliding - of dialectics trying to find a path of resolution. While the music has an effervescence and an elegiac uplift, most of the words deal with the cold analysis of the self, the exception being the three lyrics by James (Dean Bradfield) which look for and hopefully find answers in people, their memories, language and beliefs. The music is energised and at times euphoric. Recording could sometimes be sporadic and isolated, at other times we played live in a band setting, again the opposites making sense with each other. There are crises at the heart of these songs. They are microcosms of skepticism and suspicion, the drive to the internal seems inevitable - start with yourself, maybe the rest will follow.”

Manic Street Preachers' Critical Thinking artwork
Manic Street Preachers' Critical Thinking artwork. Picture: Press

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