After a few days of struggling with a cold, I'm finally sitting down for a remembrance of the amazing album gigs in Brixton, London. Even though I think my cold was caused by me going out into the night all sweaty and wet from the gig on Saturday (and the two nights before that), that's not really what I should be writing about.
18.05.11
19.05.11
Thursday then, the 'Suede' day, the time to finally hear some of the songs from their debut album that are rarities live. As usual it was some time waiting before the support act, Chapel Club, started, but then it all just seemed to go by so quickly. When Suede went off stage it almost felt like I had missed out on something, a strange feeling I must say. Fortunately I remember the wonderful feelings of experiencing 'She's Not Dead', 'Sleeping Pills' and 'The Next Life' live, otherwise I might have thought it to be a dream.
20.05.11
Time for 'Dog Man Star' night on Friday, and I was very excited. Not only is DMS my favourite of the albums (if I must chose), it is also an album that means very much to me personally since it was when it came out that I fell helplessly and madly in love with Suede's music; a love that only has grown stronger throughout the years.
The encore consisted of: 'The Living Dead', 'My Dark Star', 'Stay Together', 'Killing of a Flashboy', 'So Young', 'Metal Mickey', and 'Animal Nitrate'. To be honest I was hoping for 'Whipsnade' (which was played the following week at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin), but I really loved them playing 'My Dark Star' and 'Stay Together'.
21.05.11
Then came the final night: Saturday night and 'Coming Up'.Since it's an album full of energetic songs I definitely drained myself of my remaining energy this night; for the third night in a row I danced, jumped and sang along to the best live band that I know of. I loved hearing 'Picnic by the Motorway' live and it was a true singalong concert. Even though the audience sang along to all the songs the preceding nights as well, the songs of 'Coming Up' seemed to bring the singalong power to another level, or maybe it was the fact that it was the last concert, I don't know?
The encore for the night contained some of the lovely b-sides from the period of 'Coming Up' and more: 'Europe is our Playground', 'This Time', 'Young Men', 'Together', 'Can't Get Enough', 'So Young', 'Metal Mickey', and 'Animal Nitrate'. I really loved hearing 'Together' and the ending of the concert, with the audience solely singing 'Animal Nitrate', was somewhat magical, a fantastic way of ending the three nights.I have earlier posted about this show (not the encore though) being uploaded to Suede's Video Channel, and I do recommend you to watch it, if you haven't already.
the supporting role
Lastly, I think I need to write some words on Chapel Club as well, the support act for the three nights. Before the gigs I had listened to their album 'Palace' and therefore I had some knowledge of their music and already liked a few songs. I must say, however, that hearing a band three nights in a row is very special. It isn't something you do that often, and even though Suede was the reason for me to be there, I think Chapel Club was good live. The managed to vary their playlist a bit and that's quite a good job with not so much material. To hear some new songs, like 'Bodies' and 'Widows', are always appreciated. This is another band that I'm going to follow in the future.
