There’s something magical and unrepeatable about the first time you see a band perform live – especially when it’s a band you’ve been a fan of for decades. My maiden trip to see Suede in 2019 was one of those special evenings that will live long in the memory and makes me wonder how it had taken almost a quarter of a century to see them in concert.
Whilst they had quickly become one of my favourite bands when I properly got into music in the mid-nineties, by the time I’d got to University and had easy access to concerts Suede’s star had somewhat diminished. Head Music hadn’t appealed as their first three albums had and successor A New Morning gave the impression of a band that had lost its spark and drive. The subsequent split up didn’t feel like any sort of surprise, at a time when plenty of their nineties cohorts were calling it quits.
Somehow the first two albums upon reuniting hadn’t caught my attention, but having been recommended 2018’s The Blue Hour the memories of what Suede were good at returned. Upon checking gig listings the gothic splendour of Manchester’s Albert Hall seemed the perfect fit for the wider soundscape of the new material. But as always the question remained for any reunited band – would they be able to recapture the promise of their heyday or would it sound like a bunch of fifty year olds singing awkwardly about drugs and sex and pantomime horses?
Before Suede BC Camplight took to the stage on what was a swelteringly hot April’s day. Being honest, five years later little memory of their forty minute support set remains, asides from the fact that their keyboardist managed to quaff an entire bottle of wine during their set. Which fitting that in between songs was a very accomplished piece of speed drinking, with no obvious deterioration in her performance.
Entering to the dramatic strains of album opener As One the band then did what so many bands of their vintage struggled with – producing a setlist that balanced old and new, with one third songs from their most recent album, a third the big hits and the remaining third various outtakes from throughout their career. And whilst musically newer material took the band in fresh directions, something intrinsically Suede remained in the DNA of these songs such that I suspect an attendee without prior knowledge would have struggled to pick the older songs from the new.
Whilst the rest of the band were happy to stand back out of the limelight, Brett Anderson prowled the stage throughout, not just singing the lyrics but breathing and acting life into them. Within the first few songs his shirt was drenched with sweat, as he bound across the stage, threw himself repeatedly to the ground and entered the crowd to the adoring fans, putting performers half his age to shame with his dynamism. Any thoughts the band had reformed purely for money were completely dispelled by the energy and passion on show.
Sometimes at concerts it’s easy to pick out a single highlight of the evening, other times, such as this, it’s impossible to do that. Whether it was the dystopian thrill of We Are the Pigs, the sleaze of This Hollywood Life, the raw adrenaline rush of Animal Nitrate or the climatic Flytipping each song seemed to hook the audience in a different way. That said there was something a little extra special about seeing Brett solo on stage, acoustic guitar in hand but with no amplification or microphone, performing The Wild Ones to a silenced venue.
Whenever bands reunite there is a danger that they won’t live up to or even tarnish their legacy, but Suede pulled off the trick of not just respecting their history but showing that they had a present and a future too. Within twenty four hours I’d ‘accidentally’ bought tickets to see them in Leeds the next week. Whilst seeing a band twice so quickly can feel like repetition, with five songs swapped in it almost felt like a completely different set (remarkably the band performed seventy four different songs across the eleven date tour). There may have been several further outings to see them perform over the subsequent five years, but I’ll save those for future posts.
And yes, at that second gig BC Camplight‘s keyboardist again got through an entire bottle of wine during the length of their support slot.
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Suede performed:
As One
Wastelands
Outsiders
We Are the Pigs
So Young
Metal Mickey
This Hollywood Life
Cold Hands
Tides
She’s in Fashion (Brett with Richard acoustic)
My Dark Star
The Drowners
It Starts and Ends With You
Manipulation
Trash
Animal Nitrate
The Wild Ones (Brett solo acoustic)
For the Strangers
The Invisibles
Flytipping
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Beautiful Ones
Life Is Golden
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Youtube Highlight of the Evening: Having written an entire paragraph praising how energetic Brett Anderson was throughout the evening the obvious thing to do was to pick a video where he stood still the most he did all evening! Courtesy of StringBeanJean here is 1994’s classic B-side My Dark Star.
Alex Reviews Gigs 
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