Who
Suede
Support
Nadine Shah
Where
Birmingham O2 Academy
When
6th November 2021
Price
£38.50
Who with
No-one
Position
Towards the back
Comments
Suede had split up in 2003 and I'd attended their farewell tour, which was followed by an inevitable reunion in 2010. I'd heard their albums released since but never got into them much, and generally speaking I try to boycott bands who make a big deal about splitting up and then reform a short time later. For this reason, I continue to ignore the continued existence of The Bluetones, Shed Seven and LCD Soundsystem, having being assured that they were genuinely splitting up forever at the time! By my count this was my 5th time watching Suede, and as it was a show celebrating Coming Up - my favourite album of theirs - I was happy to attend. It was rather expensive and I held off committing until I felt reasonably sure it wouldn't be cancelled and rescheduled, and I can't even recall if it was originally postponed or had been planned for November 2021 all along. Being the 25th anniversary of Coming Up made sense though, and for me the patchiness of their debut and the overblown excess of Dog Man Star made Coming Up far and away Suede's best effort. The rules in England are less strict than Wales and so I was surprised to get an email confirming that the venue were using the Covid pass. Luckily a negative test wasn't required, and proof of double vaccination was sufficient for entry. Surprisingly it was a hassle-free process to download the NHS App and get a QR code confirming I was "clean", but it's funny how pretty much no other venue was insisting on these rules. I'd felt annoyed when Birmingham Hippodrome demanded everyone wear masks, but fortunately this was widely ignored once we all took to our seats. But the Covid pass makes more sense on balance?

It does make me wonder if the bands "need" to take tests and what an inconvenience it would be if a member tests positive. Personally I'd be inclined to avoid the tests to avoid the knowledge of infection, but you'd think insurance would demand confirmation? At nearly £40 it was a pretty expensive ticket, and as it was sent electronically I didn't even get a nice piece of card for my trouble, but I have good memories of Suede and was happy to give them another try. This also would be my first time at Birmingham Academy since that weird pre-virus Supergrass show when everything was totally normal and yet the country was in denial that we'd be in complete lockdown just a few weeks later! The plan for the day was a trip into Coventry for a few City Of Culture events which I'd pre-booked, and on the train there I was listening to Madness rather than Suede! I'd seen a few Madness documentaries in the week before and so was much more interested in them. Sadly for me I just never got round to listening to any Suede whatsoever. I saw the Turner Prize nominees at the Herbert Gallery, paid a post-sunset visit to Gaia - a model of the Earth suspended in the ruins of the old Cathedral - and a few other smaller events to make the most of the day. I struggled to find a pub quiet enough to eat at though until I wandered to a Lebanese/Moroccan restaurant in a side street. By contrast it was pretty much deserted, and the lack of alcohol available was the likely reason for this! They also insisted on cash payment, and as I obviously wasn't carrying any I had to pop out to the nearby cash machines. Luckily for them I'm honest and returned to pay, but this display of trust made me more impressed. The food was pleasing and reminiscent of what I've enjoyed in that part of the world, and being in an empty high quality restaurant is something I do more often than one might expect.

After this meal I headed back to the train station and returned to Birmingham, encountering a large doll from the viral NetFlix series Squid Game. I've not seen it myself but probably will get round to it in ten years or so! The Christmas Market was already open - in early November! - but I didn't want to fill up on liquids, instead enjoying a McFlurry from the legendary McDonalds on the ramp. Doors at the Academy opened at 7pm and I'd seen the running times online, heading over there a good bit before 8pm. I'd clocked that the reasonably famous Nadine Shah was supporting and didn't want to miss her! I was a little dismayed to see long queues outside, fearing the Coronavirus rules would delay my entrance. However, it was quite well organised, checking our Covid Pass, then searching us, and finally checking tickets. They even had someone at the end of the queue explaining what the queue was for, fulfilling an absolutely basic but rarely provided role. I tried to avoid hassle for taking my camera in by putting it in my back pocket, and the bouncer turned a blind eye to it setting off the metal detector wand, happy to accept it was just coins in there. But frankly in a world where everyone has a phone, carrying a slightly better camera cannot be viewed as a problem! I had no trouble at all getting a good spot, and I really feel like the overhanging balconies had reduced in size, as the rest of the room just seemed far larger. It probably was just the convenience of it being a bit quieter and securing a spot in the middle rather than nudging to get out from under the balcony, but I'd never felt so satisfied by the room. It will never match the Civic, but just seemed that bit more polished, and the balcony was also open and attracting seated punters.

I secured a spot right in the middle and pretty near the back, not wanting to be in any kind of moshpit or to have loads of people pushing past me. It really wasn't that far back either, but I did correctly predict that large heads could easily block my view. I had no problem resisting the shit beer on offer (as far as my distant vision could deduce, it wasn't good), and I also didn't look at the merchandise stand. I'd selected my spot and intended to stay there for the duration, even as the tallest guys in the entire world slowly assembled in front of me! First up was Nadine Shah at 8pm, and although she was certainly pretty good, the reception she got was a bit silly. It felt like people were actually here to see her! She put in a solid performance though, starting off strongly with the band clapping in unison as the opening song got going. Nadine was supported by six guys and everyone was wearing black. The keyboardist was sporting some official merchandise that was on sale at the back, and Nadine at times was chatting off mic happily to the front rows. Her music was catchy and pretty decent, I just was a bit bewildered by how well she went down. I know we're so often denied any good support acts, but Nadine wasn't quite as good as the over the top reception she got. After she finished, the stage was set up for Suede. There wasn't much DJ music until Motorcycle Emptiness kicked in just before the band came on, but as Nadine had played a pretty long set a quick changeover was needed. Some of the roadies were a little unnecessarily wearing masks, and they took a while, ultimately not finishing their task until 9:15pm or so - 15 minutes after the advertised 9pm start. Still, Coming Up only has ten songs on it, this seemed unlikely to be a 3 hour set!

As I half-expected, Suede appeared to an instrumental version of She, which I'd enjoyed on one of their live DVDs. It isn't the true album opener but works very nicely. Brett and the guys then appeared and proceeded to plough through Coming Up with enthusiasm and joy. I shot my first video for opener Trash, catching a few nice close-ups and Brett encouraging the crowd to sing the chorus back to him. Almost 20 years had passed since I'd last watched him play and he looked incredible, almost as if he hadn't aged a day. I'm aware I was pretty far back and couldn't see the detail of the lines on his face, but it seemed clear that Brett had defied time somehow. As the show went on he got increasingly sweaty but never changed his top, not even taking advantage of breaks between songs to do so. It felt good to watch him and to feel that Suede's reformation was a quality affair, even if I can't claim to have listened to the new songs very much. Brett was regularly standing on the speakers or down low in the crowd out of my view, and if there was anything tonight he didn't want to be playing, it sure didn't show! Filmstar was similarly excellent, and the backdrop featured a half video screen covering the left side of the stage, mostly displaying static images of the artwork to represent each song played. Brett several times spoke of the love and poison of Birmingham, unusually pronouncing the silent H in a way normally reserved for Americans. It also was a delight to hear Lazy again, which I've often felt is an overlooked classic. Also I was going to say I'd never heard By The Sea live before, but to my surprise it appears they performed it live back in 2003 on their supposed farewell tour!

I shot a second video for the full performance of She, capturing red lights and clear sound quality, and backed by a red tinged version of the Coming Up cover. It's a great number and a reminder of why Coming Up will always be my favourite Suede album by a country mile. Next up the place went crazy for Beautiful Ones, as a father and son in front of me hugged and moshed together, setting the tone for many of those ahead of me. However, I stuck to my moshpit retirement, although I'm sure there'll be times in future when I'll be sorely tested! Similarly exhilarating was Starcrazy, before the pace slowed with Picnic By The Motorway. I was more interested by the epic The Chemistry Between Us, as "is that the only chemistry" was written on the video screen as the backdrop. Brett asked us what night it was, and for my first time since V99 it actually was Saturday Night on a Saturday night! I shot a third video and was sufficiently pleased with it to put on Facebook a week later, capturing Brett smiling and sweating profusely, blue lights and a mass of massive heads trying to block my view. It's a really lovely song and should never have been dropped from any self-respecting Suede setlist, especially not in favour of overblown and overlong cuts from Dog Man Star! I was getting slightly annoyed by someone standing so close to me that I couldn't move my feet back any further before realising that I was kicking the front of the barrier at the back! The band left the stage to much applause for a quick break, and obviously we were going to enjoy more than ten songs for the high price of admission! The band said that they were going to start slowly and build up, and commenced with the excellent Sadie. Looking at other setlists it appears they alternated the b-sides they played at this point, but Suede are spectacular at non-album tracks, and Sci-Fi Lullabies has to rank as the greatest album of its type ever? Its excellent front cover was the backdrop here, and for my money My Insatiable One is pretty much the best song they've ever released.

I can't vouch for Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away or For The Strangers, only noting afterwards that they are both from the Bloodsports album, as was It Starts And Ends With You! This tune I did recognise, but it's surprising that they stuck with three tunes from 2013 to represent their reunion, and nothing newer. Three new albums, space for three songs... A trick was missed here! Head Music was represented by the incredible Can't Get Enough, as I shot a video for a girl next to me before sharing with her that they'd opened with this at V99! At this point I wished I was wearing my dodgy V99 top to ram home the point, but it was the perfect Suede opener and it is nice to have it back in the set. Should still be the first song though, Coming Up tour or not! I shot a short fourth video here, capturing some moshing and red and blue lights, but even more exciting was to finally hear We Are The Pigs live! My short video here captured green lights and the classic single backdrop, and the crowd absolutely loved it! If you're going to ram Dog Man Star down our throats, then please please make it this tune! We were now in the business end of the set, and Suede were in ludicrously crowd-pleasing mood with three consecutive tunes from their debut album. It's patchy and overrated, but the singles remain epic! After So Young was Metal Mickey, which in my mind I confused with Animal Nitrate. I shot another video revealing next to no lights until it hit the chorus, as Brett jumped out of view to hype up the front rows face to face. The guys knew what we wanted and followed this with Animal Nitrate, and I actually believed Brett when he said goodnight, and that this was the end!

To my surprise, Suede came back to an encore of New Generation, which was totally worth my missing the penultimate train home for! Their previous show had finished at 10pm, but this ended around 10:45pm, with room to spare for the 11pm curfew. When Neil Codling returned to the stage I actually thought it was Nadine Shah appearing for a guest slot, but his lovely hair was one of the few things I can remember about the rest of the group! I know that Richard and Neil co-wrote a lot of the classics, but Brett dominates proceedings utterly and the rest of the group seem happy to leave the limelight to him. I shot my seventh and final video of the verse and bridge to capture the blue lights of New Generation, and my picture above was taken during this number. My video demonstrated that the largest head in the entire world was close to eclipsing my view, but standing at the back was my decision and I guess it was the sacrifice I paid to stay out of a moshpit! We all crowded for the exit, and amid the hussle it was easy to forget that a pandemic was still ongoing! The sign outside the Academy listed other upcoming performances, denying me a lovely photo of the billboard saying Suede were headlining tonight. As I had a little time I stopped off for a large and very sugary bottle of Coke, then made some notes on my phone while waiting for the last train. To my delight I worked out the long winded solution for how to copy and paste the text, which I transferred into an email to myself. There was a bit of a delay to the last train but I got back in tolerable time, my ears whistling as I'd been hearing more Madness tunes on the way back! But Suede were excellent, and after a week when I wrote up this review and saw my videos I finally felt the urge to listen back to the songs they'd played. It is a shame that the show didn't inspire me back into Suede as much as it should have, but that was no fault of the band, who performed admirably. Hopefully I'll get listening to them again more and more over time!
Setlist
Trash
Filmstar
Lazy
By The Sea
She
Beautiful Ones
Starcrazy
Picnic By The Motorway
The Chemistry Between Us
Saturday Night
Sadie
Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away
For The Strangers
It Starts And Ends With You
Can't Get Enough
We Are The Pigs
So Young
Metal Mickey
Animal Nitrate
New Generation

Mark: 8.0/10