A quarter of a century on, Manic Street Preachers remain a peerless protest group

There are so few contemporary rock acts who can boast a back catalogue quite like theirs; to witness three middle-aged Welshmen stride out so casually in front of tonight’s packed-out crowd and simply flatten us with an opening one-two of “International Blue” and “Motorcycle Emptiness”, both nigh-perfect singles from either end of their career, is spine-tingling. As anti-fascist messages flash in glowering red behind them, the band rip through the likes of “Everything Must Go”, “4 Ever Delayed” and “You Stole the Sun From My Heart” in muscular, masterful style, exuding the low-key confidence that only a lifetime of hard touring can deliver. By the time we reach “If You Tolerate This...”, they have Wembley Arena in the palm of their clenched fist.

Full disclosure: the Manics were the first “proper” band I ever saw, as a wide-eyed pre-pubescent at Manchester’s shedlike G-MEX (now Manchester Central) on the Send Away the Tigers tour. Back then, they floored me with their potency, and despite my obvious bias, their star has hardly dimmed since, at least on tonight’s evidence. It’s not a flawless show – a couple of the tracks from the new album, perfectly serviceable in the context of the record, simply can’t hold their own when placed next to “Slash ‘n’ Burn” or “The Masses Against The Classes”, and I still can’t entirely get on board with the acoustic version of “Faster” – but by the obligatory send-off of “Design For Life” (and the preceding Richey Edwards tribute from Nicky Wire), all is forgiven. A quarter of a century into their career, Manic Street Preachers continue to deliver a potent cocktail of politicized punk and ballsy arena-shakers with the kind of power of which most bands can only dream. Long may they continue.