Suede

Has it really been thirty years now since I first saw Suede at the Waterfront in 1993? Where on earth has the time gone? I distinctly remember seeing them back then with Brett Anderson and his floppy fringe and Bernard Butlers equally floppy thicker mop top. Both stood out as being quite mesmerising to watch, with lots of energy and plenty of spark, albeit I was a bit sick of all of the hype that came with them at that time via the NME and described them as being something of a ‘half arsed bunch’ in my review! Oops! In hindsight I think that I was being a bit harsh back then, but thankfully my review has had no ill bearing on their hugely successful career.

I have seen them in Norwich in between, the last time around was when they were promoting their then new album of the time ‘Coming Up’ and they had already proven at that point in time three albums in that they could cut it, but this far in after getting back together in more recent times, and now on tour in their third decade to promote the new album ‘Autofiction’, how will they sound, will they give a shit? How will they look? Are they just churning out some more new songs to pay the bills etc, etc? Will it matter to them?

Well, let me tell you people, they sounded quite incredible, so fresh and exciting just like they did back in the day, which may sound like a cliché, but tonight Suede are mind blowingly brilliant. Yes, they really are that special, the new songs are so alive and refreshing, they have that same brightness, zing and energy of their debut album. This has to be their best album since their debut by far.

Tracks from the new album such as Turn Off Your Brain, Personality Disorder, 15 Again, What Am I Without You, The Only Way I Can Leave You, She Still Leads Me On, Shadow Self and That Boy On Stage are really quite incredible, it really is very exciting, couple this with the older songs from their back catalogue such as Wild Ones, We Are The Pigs, The Drowners, Metal Mickey, So Young, Animal Nitrate, Beautiful Ones and then finally Trash and it’s a wonderful show. Nobody is going to go home disappointed this evening.

For Wild One’s, Anderson is perched back on a monitor taking a well-deserved breather judging by the sweat that is pouring off of him, this time with an acoustic guitar. It’s a very intimate version as the song takes on a new resonance. They even treat yours truly to his favourite Suede song, Next Life. It’s just Brett perched on that very same monitor at the front of the stage with piano accompaniment, it’s so beautiful, utterly gorgeous (thank you).
He regularly hops over the front barrier and into the crowd during the show causing the bouncers to have heart palpitations I am sure, but it’s all very good natured, he is still singing, but also hugging and kissing the faithful on the way down to the floor and then on the way back to the stage. He is clearly having as good a time as we are.
There aren’t many bands that do this well second time around. I have seen bands like Soft Cell, The Specials and others try and fail badly, because their hearts weren’t really in it, they were very unconvincing! But Anderson and his band mates are on fire right from the first bar.

This is my third gig in the past two weeks and by far the best one, its head and shoulders above the other two, these guys are seasoned professionals, that some of the young guns would do well to study and still be half as good as this in the next three decades. Try watching Suede, you young apprentices.

When a band this far into their illustrious career rocks up in Town and plays eighty percent of their new album, surrounded by other career highlight songs, then you have to give them much respect don’t you? How on earth they have recaptured that magic and form I really do not know, but long may it continue. They gave a shit, they came they saw, they conquered and us lot, the forty somethings plus vat went home feeling totally ecstatic at what we had just seen.

The show was utterly amazing from the moment that they entered the stage to the second that they departed. Wow! That was one hell of a gig boys. The best gig of the year so far without doubt and it really will really take some beating during 2023.

Full gallery of pics HERE