Manic Street Preachers tell us about their “vicious” ‘The Holy Bible’ live album and film
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Manic Street Preachers have given further detail on their forthcoming "The Holy Bible Live" box set, with bassist Nicky Wire telling NME the record and its accompanying concert film serve as an ongoing tribute to former guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards. Wire described the original 1994 album as one that "still sort of scares me at times as an investigation of the soul", noting its lyrics also shaped 1996's "Everything Must Go" following Edwards's disappearance, and said it was moving that audiences were still connecting with the words three decades on. Director Kieran Evans, who filmed the shows for the newly released concert film Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave, recalled a "palpable nervous tension" in the crowd each night, while frontman James Dean Bradfield said he wanted to prove the band was "still tough enough" to perform the record live.
The box set, out 23 October, pairs a live album recorded across three 2014 shows at London's Roundhouse — mixed by producer Dave Eringa and chosen for its resemblance to the demolished Astoria, where the band last played with Edwards before his 1995 disappearance — with Evans's film, previously unreleased since its 2016 premiere, and a new spatial audio mix of the original album by Steven Wilson. It will be available as a 2×12" and 3-CD deluxe edition, blue marble vinyl, a CD plus video Blu-ray, and digitally. The interview also touches on the band's plans for new material ahead of their upcoming tour with Suede.
- Manics detail "The Holy Bible Live" box set, out 23 October
- Nicky Wire calls it an ongoing tribute to Richey Edwards
- Includes previously unreleased Kieran Evans concert film and Steven Wilson remix
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Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh rock band formed in the late 1980s, known for politically charged lyrics and a turbulent history. Their most acclaimed record, The Holy Bible, was released in 1994 and largely written by guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards, whose disappearance in 1995 remains unsolved. The band has continued as a three-piece since, with bassist Nicky Wire and singer James Dean Bradfield the surviving members from that era.
The Holy Bible is regarded as a dark, intense album dealing with themes such as mental illness, self-harm and political extremism, and it has taken on added significance because of Edwards's disappearance shortly after its release. The band rarely performed it live in full for many years, given its subject matter and personal associations, which is why any live recording or film of the album is treated as a notable event by fans and critics alike.
This background matters because the band's forthcoming release combines a live recording of the album with a concert film and a new audio mix, framed by the musicians themselves as a tribute to Edwards and a way of revisiting difficult material three decades on. Understanding who Edwards was, and the weight the album carries within the band's story, helps explain why they describe the project in such personal and reflective terms.
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