Nicky Wire from Manic Street Preachers has spoken about how it feels to be playing part of Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival in August.
Robert Smith, aka the huge-haired goth icon from The Cure, chose Manic Street Preachers to headline his Meltdown Festival at London’s Southbank Centre. Deftones, The Libertines, The Anchoress, Placebo and Death Cab for Cutie are among the list of great bands playing the festival.
Speaking to NME, Nicky Wire (Manic’s bassist) said that playing the festival would be the highlight of their album tour.
“We’ve been really lucky this year to have two personal invites from real heroes – Duff from Guns N’ Roses invited us on tour in Europe, and then Robert Smith sent a really lovely email,” he said.
“We obviously jumped at the chance. James is trying to figure out a couple of Cure songs to do with one or two collaborations. There will be surprises. Plus Catherine [Anne Davies, The Anchoress] is supporting us as well. It’s going to be a pretty special night.”
NME asked what Wire felt that the Manics had in common with the other bands playing the festival. Wire replied:
“The one thread I’d agree with is that we all exist in our own worlds. We’ve never been part of anything else, even Deftones who are so original from what they started with. Our longevity is that we’ve always avoided being bracketed with any movement.
“Same for The Cure, listen to their early records and they’re like no one else. Sometimes they were caricatured as ‘classic goth’, but they weren’t and they were phenomenal. By the time you get to the euphoric pop of ‘In Between Days’ and ‘Just Like Heaven’ – it’s a startling career.”
