Manic Street Preachers

Politicized, glammed-up Welsh alt. rockers Manic Street Preachers have an extra date pencilled in after their appearance at Nano-Mugen Fes. 2011 over the weekend. 23 years and 10 albums into their career, the Manics have never quite escaped the shadow cast by the disappearance of troubled guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards in 1995 – a legacy that they confronted on 2009's Journal for Plague Lovers, which exclusively featured posthumous lyrics by Edwards. After last year's shamelessly commercial Postcards from a Young Man failed to deliver the FM radio hits the band had predicted, they've promised something more indulgent on the follow-up, 70 Songs Of Hatred And Failure. A 3CD set, perhaps? The ever-chipper Ash, who are also appearing at Nano-Mugen, play in support.