I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 19, 2022] Suede

When this tour was announced I practically screamed with delight.  It was listed as a dual headlining show with the bands switching who would play first.  It just happened that we had Suede as the second band and I feel that, given how exciting Suede was, we saw them in the right order.

The first Suede album (or The London Suede, if you must) is one of my favorite albums of all time.  It’s glammy and trashy and catchy and wonderful.  Brett Anderson’s voice is unique and magnificent and Bernard Butler’s guitar work was like nothing else at the time.  When Butler left during the recording of their next album, it seemed like curtains for the band, but young guitarist Richard Oates stepped in and is a force unto himself.  I still think of him as the new guy, even though he’s been in the band for over twenty years.

Suede broke up in 2003 and I guess I lost touch with them.  But they reunited in 2010 and have been putting out new albums ever since.  Although I wasn’t really aware of these records–they really fell off my radar.  I had never seen Suede live (and they haven’t toured the States in something like twenty-five years).  I looked at their European shows and saw that they were playing a lot of songs from the new album.  But I hoped that they would throw a bone for the U.S. fans and play some oldies too.

The band came out and set up their first song, a lengthy instrumental opening.  And then Brett Anderson slowly marched out.  He shuffled and danced and was surprisingly goofy.  I evidently didn’t know anything about Suede’s live show, because I wasn’t expecting anything like the way Anderson bounced around, crawled on the floor, and, yes, climbed into the audience and sang with us.  It was awesome.

They played two songs from the new album which were both rocking and catchy. He had us singing along and soon enough I knew the words well enough to sing the choruses of the new songs.

I was right in front of Oakes who smiled a lot but was remarkably non-goofy.  Indeed, the rest of the band (who are all the same guys since 1995) were all pretty stoic and serious, allowing Brett all of the fun.  Neil Codling (who had left the band for a bit before the hiatus and then returned with the reunion) may not have smiled the whole night.  He stood near the back, playing rhythm guitar and singing backing vocals.  He also played piano for the ballad “Drive Myself Home.”

Bassist Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert (who looks exactly the same as he did in the 90s) kept order among Brett’s chaos.

After the two new songs, they started playing “The Drowners” and the crowd (and myself) went berserk.  After a verse, Brett came out into the crowd!  And sang with us!  It was pretty wild.  He was about ten feet from me and I probably could have pushed in closer if I was so inclined.

They stayed on that debut album and played a rocking “Animal Nitrate.”  Two songs from the debut in a row!  It was amazing.

Only made better when they started playing “Trash.”  Brett spent a lot of time singing to the crowd in the front row and then bouncing up on the monitors.

I really liked the songs from the new album.  The lurching “That Boy on the Stage” has a fun “ooh hoo” that Brett stomped along to.

Things slowed down dramatically for “Drive Myself Home.”  It was a piano ballad and Brett’s voice sounded incredible.  I couldn’t believe how great he sounded.  The crowd was mostly very respectful (there was one drunk guy who was pushing his way through the crowd to get closer, but otherwise we were rapt).

After one more new song (they didn’t play anything else from after the hiatus), they played one song from Head Music–the riotously simple “Can’t Get Enough, and then played yet another of my favorite songs of theirs “We are the Pigs.”  The entire room sang along to this one and it was glorious.

It seems that around this point in the show, they play a different song each night.  I couldn’t believe it when they started playing “My Insatiable One,” a song that is legendary to me and one that I honestly never thought I’d hear live ever.  It sounded amazing and Brett seemed to really enjoy singing it, dedicating to “the insatiable ones in the audience.”  Checking other recent setlists it seems we might be the only city to get this song and I can’t believe my luck!

Then the band left and the roadie brought out an acoustic guitar for Brett.  He sat in front of the other side of the audience and sang a lovely acoustic and at time acapella version of “The Wild Ones.”  Again, his voice sounding so good!

I don’t really know which songs from the first album people like best, because I like the whole thing front to back.  But I guess they played all four singles, because when the band came back out they immediately rocked into “So Young” and, if that weren’t cool enough, they followed it with “Metal Mickey.”

Brett encouraged us to sing along to the next song as there was only one word.  He then did the “La la la la” part of “Beautiful Ones,” and again, the crowd went wild.  Of course we sang along and about midway through the song, eh came back out into the audience to sing a little more with us.

The song ended, and a remarkably sweaty and surely exhausted Brett Anderson and the band left the stage.

As I was walking out everyone felt the same way I did–we had seen something pretty amazing and never imagined that a Suede show would be so exciting.

2022
Turn Off Your Brain and Yell ∀
Personality Disorder ∀
The Drowners §
Animal Nitrate §
Trash ⇑
That Boy on the Stage ∀
Drive Myself Home ∀
Shadow Self ∀
Can’t Get Enough ∅
We Are the Pigs ♦
My Insatiable One £
The Wild Ones (acoustic) ♦
So Young §
Metal Mickey §
Beautiful Ones ⇑