Manic Street Preachers cover The Cure at London gig

Manic Street Preachers covered The Cure’s 1985 single Close To Me at London’s Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The band’s lead singer, James Dean Bradfield, dedicated the song to Cure lead singer Robert Smith, who has taken over curation duties for the series from The Who frontman Roger Daltrey for 2026, before plunging into the track.

Before the more guitar-driven version of the song, Bradfield said: “This one’s dedicated to our patron, Robert.”

While the glam style of their youth may be gone, Manic Street Preachers proved they could still display the heavy riffing of their earliest work in the powerful performance.

The band, currently made up of singer and guitarist Bradfield, bass player Nicky Wire and drummer Sean Moore, supported by a cast of touring musicians, wowed fans with some of their biggest hits including Motorcycle Emptiness, A Design For Life and If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next.

Following their cover of The Cure track, the Manics launched into Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh) from second album, Gold Against The Soul.

Bass player Wire also teased a cover of Echo And The Bunnymen’s Bring On The Dancing Horses, before playing Hiding In Plain Sight, from latest album Critical Thinking.

There was also an acoustic version of Everything Must Go and an outing for Condemned To Rock ‘N’ Roll from their debut album, Generation Terrorists.

Bass player Wire later paid tribute to bandmate Bradfield, describing him as “my guitar hero”, before telling a story about him learning The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street album in full while they were at school, an incident which he said taught him the guitar was not an instrument for him.

There was also a tribute to guitarist Richey Edwards, who went missing in 1995, with Bradfield calling him “a true rock and roll genius”, before plunging into New York Dolls style punk rocker, You Love Us.

The band finished with one of their biggest songs in If You Tolerate This The Your Children Will Be Next, as gold confetti cannons went off.

Manic Street Preachers released their heavy rock debut album Generation Terrorists in 1992, the line-up on that record made two further studio albums in Gold Against The Soul (1993) and The Holy Bible (1994), before the disappearance of guitarist and songwriter Edwards.

The band continued as its current trio, with a softer indie sound on albums Everything Must Go and This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, which included some of their biggest chart hits such as Kevin Carter and Australia.

The Manics released their 15th studio album Critical Thinking last year.

The gig came after a performance from Elbow on Monday, a comedy night on Tuesday and a show by Scottish rockers Mogwai on Wednesday, as part of the yearly charity gig series.

This year’s run has seen Smith take over curation duties, with shows from the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Wolf Alice and Garbage yet to come.