Manic Street Preachers are used to making risky artistic statements and continued that abstruse approach at the Roundhouse, performing new album Journal for Plague Lovers in sequence. There was also a huge backdrop of Jenny Saville’s stunning painting from the CD sleeve, which several supermarkets insisted on covering up because it appears to depict a boy smeared in blood.

Me and Stephen Hawking and Marlon JD were great tunes but the run of new songs that returned to their harsher sound from 1994’s The Holy Bible was at times heavy going.

The Manics had arguably earned the right to do it their way, though. Journal for Plague Lovers is undeniably powerful and features lyrics left behind by former guitarist Richey Edwards, who went missing in 1995 and was declared presumed dead six months ago.

However, there was nothing maudlin about this performance. Singer and guitarist James Dean Bradfield promised “some dancing” after the interval and fans did indeed throw themselves around to Motorcycle Emptiness, although not bassist Nicky Wire who apologised for his prolapsed disc.

They wheeled out some other early Nineties favourites but Bradfield’s muscular delivery — he looked like he might burst during Motown Junk — ensured this was no wearying nostalgia trip.
The trio were bolstered by extra musicians and a string section, who brought the necessary grandeur to Everything Must Go and the finale of A Design for Life.

A greatest hits set and a tribute to their lost member, this was a vital, emotionally charged comeback.