SUEDE @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON, LONDON

Finally delivering their postponed sold out three-night London residency, the band performed songs from their new studio album, ‘Autofiction’, released in 2022; an autobiographical work that frontman and band founder, Brett Anderson, called their most punk rock album ever.

Anderson arrived onstage after a noise intro, opening on the new album with autobiographical track ‘She Still Leads Me On’, jumping up onto the monitor at the edge of the stage and extenuating his vocals in a fit of energy, summarising why he is one of the greatest frontmen of his generation. He continued to perform from the new album, with the Killing Joke vibes of ‘15 Again’; the roar of the audience singing along further demonstrating how well the band’s new material is picked up by their fans, almost sounding as classic as older songs.

Suede then tracked back to these classics, with their 1983 debut single ‘The Drowners’ seeing Anderson come offstage into the audience to mingle in with fans while singing, playing more from the same album with its other single, ‘Animal Nitrate’, featuring ripping blues guitar. They came back to more recent material with ‘Flytipping’ from 2018’s ‘The Blue Hour’ – a poignant duet between Anderson and guitarist Richard Oakes – and then to the new album, performing ‘Black Ice’ with Matt Osman’s (bass) and Simon Gilbert’s (drums) slamming rhythm section and Oakes’ hammer-on and pull-offs transforming into bittersweet, melting guitar chords.

For a change in tempo, the band went off stage leaving Anderson alone to play a solo song on acoustic guitar, ‘The Living Dead’, from Suede’s first compilation, ‘Sci-Fi Lullabies’, released in 1997, although he only sang the one song. He performed another stripped down duet from the same compilation, now with Neil Codling on keyboards, singing ‘This Time’. At the end of their set, Suede returned to their debut album, with the final two singles of the release, ‘So Young’ and ‘Metal Mickey’, Anderson wildly lassoing the microphone around his body. Suede returned for a very short encore of ‘The Boy on The Stage’ from the ‘Autofiction’ album which Anderson declared was their best album; the song honing in on the autobiographical theme of the release.

16/12/23: Suede @ Electric Brixton, London.