Live review: Suede and Manic Street Preachers deliver a double delight

On a chilly night in West Yorkshire, two of the greatest bands of the last few decades are taking to the stage on one glorious double bill - and it’s absolutely everything you’d expect it to be.

Suede and Manic Street Preachers have joined forces for a joint headline tour, taking in in turns to top the bill as they head out across the UK, delighting arenas everywhere.

Before we go any further, I need to declare a vested interest. Tonight’s show at Leeds’ first direct Arena is my 23rd time of seeing the Manics since 1991.

I hold my hands up - they’re my all time favourite band with a love affair stretching back nearly four decades.

I also need to declare that somehow, despite owning several albums, loving the songs and the theatrical performances of frontman Brett Anderson, this is somehow my very first time seeing Suede.

Don’t hold it against me.

Anyway, on with the proceedings.

It’s fair to say both bands now hold absolute national treasure status and putting them on the same bill is a truly inspired move.

The rules are straightforward - each band gets exactly 75 minutes to showcase whatever they fancy, be it the big hits, crowd favourites, new songs or obscure tracks. And they take it in turns to go on first each night.

In Leeds, Wales’ finest are the first up - and from epic opener Motorcycle Emptiness, it was clear we were in for an evening of true greatness.

Personal favourite Faster had the crowd bouncing and James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore bounced effortlessly between the big Arena singalongs (A Design For Life, You Stole The Sun From My Heart and Everything Must Go, plus lesser seen and heard cuts such as Die In The Summertime and La Tristesse Durera.

During an acoustic break, we were also treated to a snippet of Total Eclipse of the Heart, a touching tribute to fellow Welsh star Bonnie Tyler, who died earlier this year.

It’s truly a trawl through the Manics’ entire back catalogue - with everything from Generation Terrorists debut album material to their more recent works getting a look in.

A Design For Life gets one of the biggest cheers of the evening - especially when Wire dedicates it to a string of Welsh footballers who played for Leeds United.

Closing the set with the punchy shoutalong of You Love Us and crowdpleasing number one If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next, this is a band not just dragging out the old songs for nostalgia’s sake. It’s a band with as much to say as when they were first wearing sailor suits, panda eye make up and feather boas back in the early 90s.

So, with one of Britain’s best ever band exiting the stage, just how are Suede expected to follow that?

The answer is, with consumate ease, high theatrics, sweaty hugs with the audience and a cache of indie guitar anthems that truly stand the test of time.

Bradfield had earlier described engigmatic frontman Anderson as “on fire at the moment” - and he wasn’t kidding as he led the band through a set that included throaty, guitar powered anthems and melanchonic piano led ballads, which even included a spine tingling moment where the singer stepped away from the mic and sang - holding the huge Arena crowd in the palm of his hand for a few joyous moments.

Kicking off with Disintegrate and Dancing With the Europeans, Suede avoid the easy opener of the biggest and best known songs - but it truly hits the spot and sets the tone for the rest of the set.

Needless to say however, it’s not too long before bangers such as Trash and Animal Nitrate make an appearance as Anderson hurls himself around the stage and into the audience, twirling his microphone lead like a lasso in front of his captivated subjects.

Declaring themselves the “anti-nostalgia” band, a new track, My City, is delivered with as much verve and vigour as We Are The Pigs and Metal Mickey and a gloriously slinky Filmstar.

Closing things out, its a singalong to send us into the cool autumn night, that ‘la la la’ refrain of The Beatiful Ones making it a truly wonderful way to close down on an evening of some of the biggest and best anthems of the past three decades.

The love between the two bands is clear to see - and on tonight’s showing, there’s huge scope to do it all over again, judging by the reactions of the fans.

Suede and the Manics truly are a match made in heaven. Please do it again soon, lads.