HOT on the heels of December's sold-out arena shebang Manic Street Preachers are back with an Easter tour.

The Past/Present/Future - April 2005 Tour will take Blackwood's finest to venues they have not been to for ten years.

Alas, there is still no hometown show but Bradfield, Wire et al will be playing the Colston Hall in Bristol.

Find them there on Monday, April 11 (info: 0117 922 3686). Or, if you fancy heading west instead of east, then you can see them in Brangwyn Hall, Swansea on Thursday, April 7 (info: 01792 475715).

Some of the shows will be the band's smallest and most intimate since their 'Carling Homecoming' concert in St David's Hall.

Last year's arena tours were raved about by fans and critics alike although much of the new album Lifeblood was curiously absent.

For the new tour a spokeswoman for the band said: "The band are hoping to unveil new material on the forthcoming tour, including tracks which they are currently recording.

"They have also promised to play a varied selection of songs from throughout their back catalogue, including tracks such as 4st 7lb, Archives of Pain and Of Walking Abortion from their third album The Holy Bible which was released as a special 10th Anniversary edition at the end of 2004."

In typical literary fashion, Manic Street Preachers are plugging their latest exploit with a quotation from which the title of the tour is pinched. Tsiolkovsky said: "All our knowledge - past, present and future - is nothing compared to what we will never know."

The support for the tour will be 'special guests' Delays. Tickets went on sale today priced £22.50.

Announcement of the tour has fallen in the same week of the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of band mate Richey Edwards.

Band members are said to be marking the anniversary in private. "We'll talk to each other and remember something funny or sad," said bassist Nicky Wire to the New Musical Express.

He added that the anniversary was "a personal thing between us and his mum, dad and sister".

Edwards has not been seen since his car was discovered at a service station near the Severn Bridge in 1995, when he was 27.

The band has continued to pay Edwards' royalties into an account in his name since he was last seen in a London hotel on Wednesday, February 1 1995.

The much-missed lyricist, songwriter and guitarist played on three hit albums before he vanished: Generation Terrorists, Gold Against the Soul and The Holy Bible.

By the time the The Holy Bible, which many believe to be the band's greatest work, was released in 1994 he had been admitted to hospital for depression.

Although not an original member, he replaced former member Flicker after providing the artwork for the band's self-financed debut Suicide Alley. He developed a cult following through his live performances and interviews.

His personal battles with alcoholism, anorexia, depression and self-mutilation were present in his songs. The frankness with which he wrote and pain so evident in the music drew thousands to his art.