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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
John Aizlewood's rating
Reader rating
Description: Nicky Wire's Welsh alt-rockers with support from the weekly music mags pick of the alt-pops.
Phone: 0871220 0260
Website: www.theo2.co.uk
Email: customerservices@theo2.co.uk
Trains: Tube: North Greenwich, BR: Westcombe Park Railway Station 
, Tube / Bus: 108, 129, 161, 188, 422, 472, 486 
Extra info: Air Conditioning, Telephones, Pub, Food
Encore-free appearance: Bassist Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers plays to an emptying arena
At yesterday afternoon's awards ceremony, the NME anointed Manic Street Preachers as "godlike geniuses" and invited them to headline yesterday evening's Big Gig.
Now, in some far-off parallel universe Manic Street Preachers may be "godlike" and "geniuses". In this one they're occasionally brilliant, sometimes mundane, mostly tired rockers. And they can no more summon the masses to fill the O2 than they can garner interest in their current album.
However, support act Kaiser Chiefs could sell out the O2 as surely as they filled Earls Court in December.
The imbalance made for a most curious evening, where, shortly after Kaiser Chiefs had played to pandemonium, Manic Street Preachers played to a rapidly emptying arena and were not accorded an encore.
If Kaiser Chiefs were bemused by their silly billing, they held their tongues and, before the opening Everyday I Love You Less And Less was over, singer Ricky Wilson had hurled himself into the crowd.
Soon, he would venture halfway towards the back of the hall, only to be showered with beer (a soggy feature of a sloppily stewarded event) and inadvertently confirm to the audience that his undergarments were white.
If the satire of The Angry Mob was lost in the hullabaloo, the hits still oozed air-punching joy, while a couple of new songs, one of which may have been titled Never Missed A Beat, suggested the game is far from up.
"We're very happy Taffs today," chirped Manic Street Preachers singer James Dean Bradfield.
Typically, they delighted and frustrated in equal measures.
They veered wildly between moments of wonder, chiefly the still-astounding Motorcycle Emptiness, plus a genuinely impassioned A Design For Life and the mighty You Stole The Sun From My Heart; horrible shouting on the hopeless You Love Us and ideas that almost worked, such as a band of pipers, guest slots from The Enemy's Tom Clarke and Cerys Matthews and a shaky cover of Rihanna's Umbrella, during which bassist Nicky Wire swapped his trousers for a short skirt to reveal a pair of undeniably fetching pins. Fetching, but not genius...
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
