Ah, summertime in Cornwall. Is there anything better?
The sea is clear, the sky is blue, and the sun is (usually) shining. You’ve got plenty of free time, and there are plenty of ways to kill it. You can grab an authentic Cornish pasty and take a stroll along the Penzance seafront. You can spend a day dodging seagulls amongst the clubs and pubs of downtown Newquay. Heck, you can even just waste a day lounging on Perranporth beach, stuffing your face full of ice-cream and soaking up the rays.
Oh, what a beautiful day
Today, we find ourselves at the Eden Project. It’s one of the region’s biggest tourist draws, and for good reason; it’s got more natural beauty than a room full of supermodels, it’s full of a bunch of the world’s rarest plants, and it’s got England’s longest zip-line running through the middle of it. Hell, they even filmed some of Die Another Day here. You might not share this view, but we’re firmly of the opinion that if it’s good enough for James Bond, it’s good enough for us.
Indeed, it is a perfect day. The flowers have flowered. Families are wandering around aimlessly. The birds are singing, the plants are in full bloom, and a trio of guitar-wielding Welsh socialists are tearing a gaping hole in the Eden Project’s biomes.
…Wait. What?
Do not fret, dear reader, for this is no ordinary summertime Saturday. Rock legends Manic Street Preachers have brought their Everything Must Go tour to Eden’s brilliant Eden Sessions, and they’re putting on one hell of a show.
In case you’ve managed to miss it, the band have been celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their near-flawless fourth album, Everything Must Go, by playing it in full in venues up and down the country. According to every review we can find, those shows have been very good indeed. Despite this, we’re willing to argue that they probably weren’t as good as the band’s show at the Eden Project.
Just hear us out on this one
We mean, who else can open a show with a tune as gigantic as Motorcycle Emptiness, and then follow it up with an hour-and-a-half long greatest hits set that’s comprised solidly of Grade-A rock anthems? It’s genuinely impossible for us to pick our highlight. The ever-relevant If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next would have to be up there, but frontman James Dean Bradfield’s solo acoustic rendition of The Everlasting was genuinely gorgeous.
It’s safe to say that they’ve still got it
If you’ve never seen the Manic Street Preachers live before, now’s the time to do it. It may have been more than twenty-five years since they released their debut album, but they’re still relevant, they’re still angry, and they’re still one of the tightest live bands in the country. Go and see them while you can – we can promise that you won’t regret it.