Suede at O2 Guildhall Southampton 25.3 2023 & at Guildhall Portsmouth 11.12.2023
So good in March I returned for more later this year. I’ve bought the records, read the books, watched the documentaries but not seen them that much considering my long running interest, revived at various points over the last 30 years.
Birmingham Hummingbird for a sell-out gig on an early tour was my first encounter – one of the guys I was with lost his ticket and had to go home. That was the year of their first album, in the heart of the Bernard Butler years.
There are a few festival gigs at least that I can’t quite nail down – V, Reading and Pheonix (1995) but I can’t recall who I saw at the festivals, which is maybe why I didn’t see them much on tours. I didn’t see them again on a tour until Southampton Guildhall in April 2019. Victorious Festival in August 2022 saw Brett Anderson back, fit and on top form with what I thought was the best performance of that festival – shortish set but punchy. So hence the visit to Southampton Guildhall in March this year.
Southampton O2 Guildhall 25.3.2023
I was in the balcony, which is a fair way back, but the sound was good, as was the view. It was such a lively performance from Brett Anderson. So interactive. Sweating and pleading for involvement and getting right into the crowd, leaping from monitors, rolling and crawling. Athleticism that defied his age (then 55, now 56).
That was no total nostalgia trip. A third of the set (seven songs) were from the 2022 album Autofiction. It’s a good album, as is Blue Hour (2018) but only one track from that one. It is still the old ones that hold their top placings: Animal Nitrate, Metal Mickey and So Young from the first album and the highlights tonight fom Coming Up, my favourite album, with Trash and The Beautiful Ones.
From my perch, back on the balcony, with my pocket zoom I could still get some decent pics and I captured a few videos also, available on my YouTube channel:
– So Young
As Brett introduces The Wild Ones he remembers his early forays into Southampton and the legendary Joiners venue in 1992, which got a big cheer.
One of my gigs of the year, so when Suede popped up again with another gig not so far away in Portsmouth, I couldn’t resist.
Portsmouth Guildhall 11.12.2023
I was upstairs for this one as well – it is a superb view from the front of this venue’s balcony. Not much knee room but hey, it’s good and this grey-haired gig goer is saving his legs a bit at the moment.
There are also those unreserved seats downstairs at the back of the standing area if saving your legs. It’s all being done up at the moment with new toilets but this place has a great shape and structure to play with. Capacity is 2500.
I skipped the support band to catch up with friends and friends of friends beforehand in the main spacious and well-staffed bar.
By 9pm the balcony is full and the crowd are in downstairs. Excitement builds on this December Monday night,
Brett has his same favoured black outfit, including a shirt that quickly starts to stick to him and he gets a sweat on from his leaping about, in front of the much more static band.
The set is similar to March but this is not the same tour. Only five songs differ from the March gig in Southampton. My pick of these different ones is Filmstar.
Brett crawls and rolls on the stage, ever fighting his mic lead into submission. Real passion in his singing. Again there is the solo acoustic section two thirds into the set which includes The Wild Ones. After this there is more extravagant microphone swinging – he is a master at that.
With Autofiction (2022 album) still getting top billing – seven tracks tonight – Brett refers to this as his favourite album, obviously, living in the now. The Only Way I Can Love You is my pick, having been playing that album a fair bit this year.
Anderson goes on his walkabouts, wrestling through the crowd – he really revels in it. Talk about getting to meet your fans. The set had a great finish, although it feels like it’s a brief set (actually an hour and a half) with So Young and Metal Mickey from the first album and Beautiful Ones from Coming Up, yes my favourite album.
They leave the stage briefly: it’s Monday night and no one is going to hang about too long. That Boy on the Stage, another one from Autofiction to finish. Still, there is music from seven albums on show tonight. So much great material to select from, to integrate into another Autofiction tour date: not that it’s called that.
Two Suede dates and two top gigs in 2023. With Brett Anderson looking particularly Peter Pan-like surely there is a lot more to come from this latest version of Suede.
Gigs with Ivan 