Richey Edwards has been missing for over three decades and was legally presumed dead 18 years ago this month. He was, by all accounts, a broken and beautiful young man. A true artist. A generational talent. His legacy continues to live on all these years later, his memory carried in the hearts of fans and, most importantly, his fellow Manics.

A Manics gig acts as a ritual of remembrance for Edwards, a memorial for him every time the band steps onto the stage. During the Manic Street Preachers’ recent tour with Suede, Nicky Wire reminded the crowd at London's O2 that although there may only be three of them on stage, there will always be “f*cking four”! At every show the Manics play, an absence is felt. It is marked physically by the fourth microphone on stage, forever remaining silent. In the poignance of the music, lyrics suddenly have new meaning, echoing into the void of his disappearance.

It is clear that Richey Edwards still has such an impact on the band and its future. For decades, Wire, Sean Moore and James Dean Bradfield have set aside 25% of the band's royalties into a bank account in case their friend ever returns. He is, and will always be, a quarter of the band.  He’s in everything they do, not as a ghost, but as a voice. Richey burned too brightly and violently to ever fade away. He is in their songs, like ‘Sepia’ and ‘Nobody Loved You’. ‘Sepia’ very accurately sums up the Manic Street Preachers, as they are “Steeped in the history of you”. The lyrics are about Wire’s experiences with finally beginning to come to terms with Edwards’ disappearance and his lasting legacy. ‘Nobody Loved You’ is a more vulnerable look at Wire’s and the band's feelings around the disappearance, the focus being on their lingering pain at never having "the chance to take you home". 

It is not just Nicky Wire’s lyrics that honour Edwards – it is done through his own words. In 2009, the album ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ came out, featuring lyrics Edwards had left behind before his disappearance. He wrote ‘Me & Stephen Hawking’ and the title track, to name a few from the album. This was a difficult album for the band to create, finally using Edwards’ lyrics fourteen years after his disappearance. He had left them these lines just before he disappeared, leaving the band with the responsibility of creating something from what would become some of his final contributions to the band. They had to channel his complex emotions into an opportunity to create music as a four-piece, even if only in spirit.

The way Wire, Bradfield and Moore continue to honour their missing bandmate and brother is beautiful. He does not haunt the narrative; instead, they carry him beside them always. He is in their lyrics and their performances. Richey Edwards may have disappeared from the world, but his memory will never vanish, it will always live on in the band. He is, and will forever be, a Manic.