GIG NUMBER SEVENTY
Who
Supergrass kept us waiting before emerging after the glorious All The Young Dudes was blasted from the speakers. They opened with oldies Caught By The Fuzz and Lenny, which were solid enough although I'd had been much happier with some offerings from the superior In It For The Money album instead. Rush Hour Soul was confusing for me as it provoked an intense moshpit making me wonder where the devotion for this song had come from, nice though it is. Mary was similarly head scratching, enjoying a reception that should be saved for the strongest single off an album, not the worst! Although I cannot say with full confidence that Going Out was played, I have no problems recalling that Pumping On Your Stereo was great as usual, let down only by the fact that I couldn't mosh and was standing further back than I'd like. Kiss Of Life highlighted Supergrass's still strong ability to write catchier pop songs than most yet somehow fail to spend ten weeks at number one (or even make the top 10!) whereas Brecon Beacons was a token b-side. I swear I saw a trace of baldness in Gaz, Mickey had far shaggier hair, whereas Gaz's brother Rob had properly joined the band since I'd last seen them.
Thankfully, the sole new song was St. Petersburg, highlighting a rare respect from a major band towards the desires of a crowd to hear only the best and most familiar songs. The time and place for new songs is on special low-key dates and when the album has come out and the new tracks have proved themselves good enough to stand up alongside the hits! For the entirety of the set I was trapped between a few people who preferred to stand and do nothing and take up an unfair proportion of my space and gradually push me backwards, although I was willing to accept this due to the state of my legs. However, Moving is a song so fine that the risk of permanent damage seemed worth taking so I went for it anyway! Anyone here (and there was lots of them) who wants to play musical statues to a tune like Moving after paying £16.50 for a ticket has something wrong in the head!
Late In The Day remained a wonderful song, although 95% of the affection I have for it comes from that glorious music video when they're on pogo sticks! Hollow Little Reign, although hardly the best b-side they could do from In It For The Money, kept consistency going before we were blasted with Never Done Nothing Like That Before, Sun Hits The Sky and Richard III! Those last two songs highlighted Supergrass's little touches of showmanship, featuring slightly extended endings and some touching little pauses. Generally, the band were loud and taking full advantage of lighting, and had their typical arms in the air globe thing backdrop thing behind them. I believe the very wonderful Grace made the encore, and that the final number was the reasonable Lose It. Supergrass were required to finish early due to it being a Sunday but had successfully delivered a set brimful of hits.
So why was I feeling that it probably wasn't worth my effort of coming? Standing too far back and being unable to mosh properly definitely went against me. Also they didn't play Alright, although I'd half expected this, and the excellent Mansize Rooster, which was the tune I'd been looking forward to the most! I can also point towards What Went Wrong (In Your Head), Strange Ones, Cheapskate, Seen The Light and In It For The Money as being songs I'd had liked to hear. I guess I can understand why Supergrass wouldn't be able to play all of them (due to time!) but this doesn't take away the bottom line that this was just a weaker version of their wonderful previous gig and I was in far less of a state to enjoy it as much. Revisiting old bands and finding that they are basically not quite as good as before is a fairly pointless exercise, thus maybe I shouldn't had bothered. Nice but not as good. Possibly the best gig ever I'll regret going to, and I resisted all the cheap t-shirts outside!
Mark: 7.5/10
Supergrass
Support
Leaves
Where
Manchester Academy
When
15th May 2005
Price
£16.50
Who with
No-one
Position
In the middle
Comments
After a six year gap I decided to fork out the extortionate sum required to see Supergrass for my second time. As you'd expect, the show had sold out and a devoted crowd turned up, although I couldn't get anyone else along due to the ticket price. I had a blast through the best moments of their greatest hits (a reasonable compilation inexplicably missing off In It For The Money, the fantastic Never Done Nothing Like That Before and Condition) and had a desperate scramble to try and find out where I'd left my ticket. I was also suffering from an extremely injured leg which made any moshing extremely ill-advised. After getting there and drinking a bit I was once again asking the question of where people of my age were. The crowd seemed a mix of people who are really young or who were already in adulthood back in the day and the fans who'd got into the band as teenagers seemed strangely absent. Leaves opened the set and were a generic dull support band who (according to what I've wrote down in my notes) had a lot of members!
