Manic Street Preachers are finding it “pretty tough” to remember all the words before their farewell show next month.

Bassist Nicky Wire has been prompting singer James Bradfield on some of their lyrics as they prepare for the gig – which will see the ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ group play every single they have released between 1991 and 2011- at London’s The O2, which will be their last concert before a two-year break from 2012.

Speaking at the Orange Amplification Classic Rock Roll of Honour 2011 – where they picked up the Classic Songwriter award – at The Roundhouse in London on Wednesday night (09.11.11), Nicky told BANG Showbiz: “We’ve rehearsing for the gig at the moment and I’ve been prompting James with some of the words.”

Nicky admitted he is more interested in the career-spanning show for the different outfits he can wear, rather than reflecting on the group’s extensive back catalogue.

He said: “It’s 38 tracks so it’s pretty tough, especially if you’re not that interested in playing music like me. I’ve just done it for the costume changes. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour gig, I can get about four different outfits on.”

The group are set to use their break to attempt to create a song “that makes a difference”, but they will only release further material if they think it’s good enough.

Nicky added: “I’d like to hibernate for three months. But we’re going to get back in the studio, bunker down and come up with loads of ideas. It’s still a magical thing when the three of us get together just to think we can write a song that makes a difference.

“We’ll only write a song that’s good enough, we’re not going to chuck out any old rubbish. We’ve developed a pretty high standard in the last four years so as long as we satisfy ourselves then hopefully we’ll satisfy the rest of the world.”