Suede
The 02, London
07/12/2010
 
A band as divisive as any indie outfit in the last two decades, and the one singularly credited (if you view it as a positive) with kickstarting Britpop, albeit unwittingly, the proof of Suede‘s enduring class is here for all to see tonight. In this packed arena, Brett Anderson and the boys need convince no-one of this, of course. It’s the same audience they played massive venues to in the mid-nineties, and thankfully the set covers that era too – eschewing the dogdirt of albums four and five (‘Head Music’ and ‘A New Morning’ - you can be forgiven for not remembering them) almost entirely, and concentrating on the time when they were bloody chuffing brilliant.

It’s a Bernard Butler-free Suede, with the trusty Richard Oakes in his place, but that aside it’s the Suede of old, with Neil Codling making a welcome return alongside Simon Gilbert, Mat Osman and that master of contrived sexual ambiguity at the front.

Regardless of your love for a band, there’s a bitter taste and uncomfortable feeling about the reunion show just in principle, but that disappears almost as soon as they embark on their career retrospective set, seemingly dead set on convincing us that they are actually still very cool and relevant, thank you very much – and they make a decent case for it. Suede‘s greatest achievement tonight is that, even in this most impersonal of venues, they sound absolutely immense. They’ve certainly got the material – the singles from ‘Suede’, ‘Dog Man Star’ and ‘Coming Up’ still sound as breathtaking as they did upon release – and, far from trotting out the back cat bereft of enthusiasm, the band perform with vim and vigour.

Even Brett, the most divisive character of a very divisive band, is quite the rock star these days, dropping the sub-Morrissey crap in favour of almost a Jagger-style arrogance, with the exact same snakehips physique he emphasised when he was trying to ‘keep us guessing’ first time round. So, it’s a terrific show, with grade A tunes throughout. Playing the hits is fine, just don’t let them get ideas and think a new album is a good idea…
 
Andy Slocombe