'Best gig ever'

Today, March 24 2012, is a special day.

Two years ago, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Suede played their reunion gig for the Teenage Cancer Trust and a venue full of elated fans.

Today, two years after the show, the DVD book set of this gig is released, giving us the means to relive that fantastic night over and over again.

I still recall that evening so well; the love, the magic, the wonderful songs and the fantastic performance. As Brett Anderson has said, the 'best gig ever'.

When I got home from London I tried to write about it in 'It's over for know' and 'A few days on', but it was all so emotional for me so it's no surprise that I didn't manage to get across what I wanted to say. At that time I didn't know that I would see them play live five more times in a little more than a year's time from then. At that time I only knew how glad I was that I had had the possibility to see them live again after some 7.5 years and how magical it had been, and how sad I was since it was all over.

I pre-ordered my copy of the book set some time ago and I now await its arrival, it will be a special day when I can hold it in my hands, watch it and listen to it. I am so looking forward to it, I have wanted this since the day after the gig and now the time has come.

Through the wonders

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

Let's start with Wednesday. This, only because I later found out that Artmagic launched their debut EP in Brixton on Wednesday night. I came to London that day and had I known about it beforehand I would have gone, if I could've that is. I'm a sucker for live music and even though I hadn't heard almost anything of Artmagic up till then, it would have been fun since it's Mr. Oakes' new project together with Shaun McGhee. Additionally, to be thinking of things in hindsight, I bought their EP 'I Keep On Walking' at the Suede gig on Saturday and have listened to it quite some. I like it and I'm looking forward to what may come next.

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.

After the album songs came the encore with its treats: 'High Rising', 'He's Dead', 'My Insatiable One', 'To the Birds', 'Killing of a Flashboy', 'Can't Get Enough', 'Trash', and 'Beautiful Ones'. Of course the first four songs were something very special hearing live; I absolutely loved 'He's Dead'. However, I must say that my strongest memory from the encore is Richard's smile while playing 'Can't Get Enough'.

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 songs that I had looked forward to hear a bit more were: 'Introducing the Band', 'Daddy's Speeding', 'Black or Blue' and 'The Asphalt World'; the first two being such special songs musically, 'Black or Blue' as a rarity live and 'Asphalt World' for the expectation of hearing the full version of it. And of course they are all beautiful songs, together with so many off this album. It was amazing being at the Brixton Academy this night and I think I was somewhat more present in body and mind compared to the preceding night, due to my expectations.

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.

Europe is our playground

Stockholm, then London, it was a perfect combination.

Cirkus in Sthlm is not a small venue, capacity of 1800 with standing area, but neither is it a big arena. It did give closeness to the band, which I like, at least for the standing crowd, at least for me.

The concert was wonderful and to be there with friends that have somewhat the same love for the band as I, it adds to the experience. 'Pantomime Horse' is still one of my favourites to hear live, of the slower songs. It just hits the body in a sensuous way.

I didn't have that much time to digest the concert afterwards since I was heading to London.

After a break of some shopping and a concert with The Radio Dept. at the Scala, it was time for my second Suede show in a week's time.

Since I love Dog Man Star with all my heart it was something extra to stand among the masses in front of the stage at the O2 hearing 'Introducing the Band' as intro to the band, after the obligatory 'Bodies' by Sex Pistols. It had been some years since the last time.

For me it almost felt like the concert had started in Stockholm and that it ended in London, that it wasn't any time in between. It's an odd but nice idea. They were both good shows, respectively, in their own way.

Two major things made the London gig special for me. Apart from the size of the arena, the gig being the last (?) one, and the fact that it was in London, the massive screen showing artwork from different albums and singles made the concert a greater experience. Additionally to hear 'To the Birds' at the end of the show, with the Drowners' artwork in the background made it truly beautiful.

Beauty in shape of t-shirts: Beautiful things

Time

It's time; soon it's time for yet another fantastic energy boost. It's time for every cell of the body to be loved; it's time to feel alive.

On Wednesday night I'll be singing, I'll be dancing, I'll be smiling, I'll be crying.

On Thursday morning I won't feel as heavy hearted as I was after the Albert Hall, 'cause on Tuesday I'll be in London, again, for yet another show.

Tuesday night will be magical.

What will happen thereafter, I don’t know?


Brittle Heart (BA)

Clinging to a scheme & the S word

The soundtrack for this post is The Radio Dept.’s newly released album ‘Clinging to a Scheme’, more on that later.

First a short note about that I finally have got my t-shirt, probably one of the best looking ones. It’s the “two thousand and ten t-shirt”. It might be interesting to compare this one to the more "ancient" one from the early nineties, I’ve just added a photo of it to the ‘Beautiful things’ page. The latest one is surely less provoking. One more thought about this t-shirt; why does it always take such a long time to get something delivered from townsend-records?

As I wrote the other day, my greatest love in music will be doing another show, this one in December at the O2 arena in London. The tickets are on sale from tomorrow, however there were a pre-sale yesterday and guess what, I bought a couple. So, I’ll be heading for London in December again. It feels strange thinking about the concert now in April already...

Hopefully I’ll be going to some concerts in between now and December, however so far I haven’t planned any. The Radio Dept. are to play here on May 13, however it’s at a 'student place', and I’m not a student, so I’ll have to manage that somehow. It would be great to see them though.

‘Clinging to a Scheme’ Some of the songs I’ve already listened to quite a lot and I love them, like ‘David’ and ‘Heaven’s on Fire’. Now it’s time for the others as well.

To end this post I’d like to quote Brett Anderson. He’s on the go with he's solo work and says:

with all the fuss going on down the road i thought i'd let you know what's going on about the next solo record.
on monday, Leo and myself started writing properly together. we have about 15 backing tracks to work on , edited and compiled from the jam sessions in january .
things are already feeling good... the music is live and urgent and very inspiring to write to. so far we have 3 complete songs... one mid-paced, stately album opener called 'Unsung', a fierce rocker and a brand new untitled beast which i am writing parts for today and sounds a bit like 'Idiot' period Iggy.. dark, industrial and damaged.
no one who is interested in my solo stuff need worry that i am being sidetracked by the S word... my goal over the next few months is to crack on with album number 4 and hopefully have it ready by the end of the year. when it will be released i can't say but i do know it's going to be special. 

Brett's "notes from the underground" can be found at the forum.

Now I’ll continue listening to The Radio Dept.’s Clinging to a scheme.

A few days on

I haven't gone out of my apartment since I got home from London in the first hours of Friday morning. I should have, but I haven't. The thing is my body is totally off. It seems as if it held up during my journey home but then let everything loose, the tiredness, the ache (cannot mention how much my back hurts), and I haven't been able to do almost anything.

I knew the journey in itself would make me tired, and I didn't sleep that much after the concert on Wednesday, and to be honest I gave all that my body could bring during Suede's magical gig, and then some. So, it's not that surprising. My body wasn't up for this "sort of activity" yet, but I was. And so far I don't regret it. No, I will never ever regret going to that show and jump and throw myself around in the arena together with other dedicated fans - it was a great night. Even though I couldn't manage to get into the flow as much as people around me could, I gave all I had and I had such a fantastic time.

Tomorrow I'm off to work for a few hours. Let's see how that goes. The only things I've managed to do these days are to listen to and view some of the clips that have been uploaded on YouTube or elsewhere, read some reviews and update myself and friends via social networks, text messages and so.

Here's a review I read today: www.independent.co.uk

Referring to that review, here's a photo from that magical moment. I'll never get it out of my head, and I don't mind that.

Last time I wrote that I didn’t want to hear Brett say those words, those about doing it again in another seven years. No, I didn’t want to hear that, but to be honest I don’t know what I would have liked to hear. I'm in some sort of void at the moment and haven't got back to reality yet. Maybe I have a thought on that subject later on.

It's over for now

So, it's over.

I'm back from my stay in London. The one that ended with the TCT gig at the Royal Albert Hall, in other words, the Suede concert.

It felt surreal being there, not until right before their entrance did I start to grasp it. These New Puritans, that were the supporting act for the night, were ok. I can’t say anything more at this point. I had listened to them a bit beforehand and their latest album is more to my liking than their first one, I think.

Since the night was one in the row of the whole Teenage Cancer Trust event, of course there were a lot of references to their work and the patients benefitting from it. It’s a horrible disease cancer. I personally haven’t had any person close to me that have been affected, but others yes. The stories told moved me and it became almost like an odd pause in between the frenzy before seeing Suede again after 7.5 years.

I don’t think I can say that much about my own experience of the show. It was warm, sweaty, moving, fantastic, and...

I do wish I would have had more strength and energy to really get into the flow. Don’t get me wrong, I really did. However, since I’ve been unwell for the past six months with not much possibility to function as I usually do, I have a lot to regain when it comes to my physical condition.

There are however some moments of the show that I’d like to write about.

The magical moment – after 'Metal Mickey' had faded. The entire venue were at their feet praising the band. Since most of the Albert Hall audience did this throughout the show, I want to stress how magical and fantastic this moment was. The band did enjoy it too. I still recall the face of Brett looking out at the crowd, how he smiled and his eyes seemed to glimmer. I remember how Mat looked amazed, smiled and shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. Simon also had a smile on his face, and while leaning forward over the drums he too shook his head in the same way as the others and he had joy shining through his eyes.

That moment was something special and I recall turning around from where I was standing in the arena to see all the people around the circle of the venue, it was an amazing sight and I hope this will linger in the minds and hearts of each member of Suede for a very long time.

To write about other moments almost seem unnecessary, however I want to mention a moving moment. It was when Brett dedicated 'He’s Gone' to a friend of his that recently had passed away. The following 'Next Life' made it even stronger. Brett truly can pour his self into the words he sings, and so he did.

It was great to see them all together on stage again. Especially Neil, who wasn’t with them the final years, and Richard too since I haven’t read or heard anything about him (them) since the split. A surprising moment was the intro to 'The Wild Ones', and this due to that is was Neil, not Richard, who played it.

It was a fantastic show. They sounded amazing. One thing adding to the surreal experience was that this was the first time I saw them play when I didn’t expect to hear any new material, and that was odd I must say.

I think their choice of playlist was very good. Of course I would have loved to see them carry on and play even more songs, but obviously that would have been even more surreal.

If I felt joy and a tremendous flow of strong emotions throughout the concert, afterwards I felt so empty. I would have thought that the joy should have lasted longer, but I was struck with an immense sadness whilst going back to my hotel. The wonderful moment was over, over and gone, forever?

The sadness lingers. I look back at the show with warm feelings, great respect and gratefulness, and I treasure the special moments I recall, but even so, the sadness is heavy on my heart. Is it really so, that my greatest love in music is gone forever?

When I last saw them, in November 2002, I didn’t know that they were going to split up so it was just a good concert, like so many others before. However, this time it’s different.

Brett’s words – let’s do it again in another seven years’ time – wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

Since I can't manage to write about this experience at the Royal Albert Hall in the way that I would have loved to do, please read about it through the words of someone that really knows how: Mark Reed on the best night of his life.

I will end this post with the playlist for Suede's magical performance at the Royal Albert Hall on the 24th.

She, Trash, Filmstar, Animal Nitrate, Heroine, Pantomime Horse, The Drowners, Killing of a Flashboy, Can’t Get Enough, Everything Will Flow, He’s Gone, The Next Life, The Asphalt World, So Young, Metal Mickey, The Wild Ones, New Generation, Beautiful Ones, The Living Dead, The 2 of Us, Saturday Night.

It isn’t the same, and can’t be compared to the live show, but here’s the same playlist on Spotify.

Suede in London

No 100 Club-ticket for me, no I didn't win one. However, I'm one of the lucky ones that have bought a ticket for the RAH gig so I'm not that sad. I would have loved to see Suede play at a smaller venue, concerts are almost always better when the band and audience are closer to each other, and it tends to create a more intimate feeling.

Right now I'm preparing for my trip to London; flights, hotel, and a lot more. I haven't really had time to think about what I'm going to do besides go and see Suede on the 24th. There's loads of stuff to see, explore, and so on, and (too) many years have passed since my last visit. I need to think about how to spend my time there.

To end this post – some promotion for the new page I’ve added to the blog. Further. On it you'll find even more links to blogs, good music, and other sites that I like.