Manic Street Preachers have kicked off their 2025 UK ‘Critical Thinking’ tour – check out everything they played below.
The first in their string of UK shows kicked off last night (April 11) at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom. They’ll play there again tonight (April 12) before heading to London, Wolverhampton, Bristol, Manchester and Swansea. You can find a full list of dates further below.
Before the show yesterday, the band announced that longtime touring keyboardist Nick Nasmyth wouldn’t be joining this tour due to “personal circumstances”, and their “great friend and producer” Dave Eringa will step in in his place.
Eringa’s involvement with the band goes back to their first single, 1993’s ‘Motown Junk’, where he contributed tea-making duties. He’s also produced and mixed a number of tracks for the band through the years, and performed keyboards live with them between 1993 and 1994.
They opened the tour with ‘Decline and Fall’, from their latest album ‘Critical Thinking’ before launching into ‘Enola/Alone’, ‘La tristesse durera (Scream to a Sigh)’ and ‘Brushstrokes of Reunion’ – the latter also from the new LP.
The gig also included a small acoustic set with ‘This Sullen Welsh Heart’ and ‘Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky’, before they eventually ended on fan-favourite hit ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’. Check out their full setlist and fan footage below.
Manic Street Preacher’s setlist was:
‘Decline & Fall’
‘Enola/Alone’
‘La tristesse durera (Scream to a Sigh)’
‘Brushstrokes of Reunion’
‘You Stole the Sun From My Heart’
‘She Is Suffering’
‘Peeled Apples’
‘Motorcycle Emptiness’
‘Walk Me to the Bridge’
‘Hiding in Plain Sight’
‘Autumnsong’
‘A Design for Life’
‘This Sullen Welsh Heart’
‘Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky’
‘The Everlasting’
‘Dear Stephen’
‘Sleepflower’
‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’
‘International Blue’
‘People Ruin Paintings’
‘Motown Junk’
‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’
Their ‘Critical Thinking’ tour will continue until May 10, and they will stop off in London, Wolverhampton, Bristol, Manchester, and Swansea. See all remaining dates below and find tickets here.
APRIL
12 – Glasgow Barrowland
18 – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
19 – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
25 – Wolverhampton The Civic at the Halls
26 – Bristol Beacon
MAY
2 – Manchester O2 Apollo
3 – Manchester O2 Apollo
9 – Swansea Arena
10 – Swansea Arena
21 – Bearded Theory Festival, Derbyshire
24 – Live At Leeds: In The Park, Leeds
AUGUST
02 – Audley End, Saffron Walden
In a four-star review of Manic Street Preachers’ new album, NME wrote: “Sonically, ‘Critical Thinking’ has touches of the European modernist propulsion of 2014 renaissance record ‘Futurology’ and the graceful ABBA pop flourishes of 2021 predecessor ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’.
“But its uplifting warmth met with provocative spikiness feels like an album written staring up at the posters of their teenage art-pop and indie heroes – meant for the crackle of a record or the buzz of a cassette.”
Speaking to NME recently, bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire described the LP as “a different kind of record” to what fans may have heard from the band in the past.
“Albums are a reflection of where your mind is at – certainly in the Manics’ world,” he explained. “Sometimes you have to let that honesty out.”
Wire continued: “I just went off myself a bit, but I always find myself to be my most dependable source of inspiration. I’m starting to lose that – but that’s different to the lyrics from James [Dean Bradfield, frontman] on the album; his three songs have more of a sense of optimism to them.”
The musician also told NME that the Manics were already “talking about what we could do next”, adding: “I haven’t written many words for a while because it’s good to take a break from the album you’ve just done and not repeat yourself.
“This one is meant for the dark night of the soul and I’m sure the next one will be different from that. Whether it’s broader, whether it’s more macro in outlook. We’ll see.”
