Suede may be celebrating their acclaimed new album Autofiction on this latest headline tour, but playing 30 years to the exact date their self-titled debut was released was too big a moment not to mark here in Manchester.
And so it was that fans packing into the Albert Hall on Wednesday night were greeted with a setlist of rarely-performed treats from that astonishing debut that has cemented Suede's place in rock 'n' roll history. Not that those 30 years seem to have dimmed the spirit and swagger of a band that feel at the top of their game right now.
The Britpop pioneers were here in Manchester for the second time this month - playing once again to a sold out audience within the atmospheric setting of the Albert Hall. The former chapel is a natural stomping ground for the preacher-like figure of frontman Brett Anderson who betrays barely a hint of the ageing process.
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Wearing the skinniest of skinny jeans and unbuttoned shirt, he remains the whippet-thin ringmaster bouncing, squatting and strutting his lithe form across stage. It's easy to get nostalgic when you look as remarkably unchanged from your 90s heyday as fringe-flipping Brett does, that's for sure.
Although it was the raw, rocking anthems of newie Autofiction that would set the pace for this gig, with Brett bursting out onto stage like a coiled spring to rasp out opener Turn Off Your Brain and Yell. Personality Disorder and 15 Again are lapped up as if they've been in the Suede songbook for decades.
But it is when he does his now trademark wade through the audience for The Drowners that things start to truly ramp up a gear, as the fan faithful swirl and clutch at his sweat-sodden form. Returning back to the stage after his wild wander, he yells: "It’s time to release the f***ing animal" to launch into the frenzied strains of Animal Nitrate.
It's about mid-way into the set that Brett acknowledges the date of this show. He says: "So today is quite a special anniversary, it’s 30 years since our debut album," to huge cheers from the audience.
He goes on: "It's nice to do the old songs and look back on the boys we once were. So we're going to play a couple of songs from that debut album for you."
The audience is treated to what Brett acknowledges is the rarely played She's Not Dead and on into the haunting Breakdown. And later, during the section of the show when Brett is alone on stage with his acoustic guitar, it's almost inevitable that on this occasion it will be Pantomime Horse to play out.
Before strumming into the song Brett says: "It would be fitting to do a song from the first album." Although jokes: "I'm still learning the E chord".
As the crowd bay back the words, its one of the more magical moments of the show.
Brett himself will acknowledge that feeling, asking the crowds: "Why do we come out to gigs? Why don’t we just sit at home and listen to our CDs and cassette players? It’s to be together. There’s something magical about singing together."
And sing the crowds do as the setlist makes its natural crescendo with So Young and Metal Mickey to complete a night of joyful celebration of their debut as much as of their latest work.
The band return to the stage for an encore of Beautiful Ones, with Brett swinging his mic wire like a cowboy about to snare his audience with a lasso. "You have been beautiful," he concludes.
A feeling very much reciprocated by Suede's adoring fans.
Next year will mark 30 years since the release of Suede's seminal second album Dog Man Star. Fans can live in hope that something special like this will mark that anniversary too.
Setlist
Turn off your Brain and Yell
Personality Disorder
15 Again
The Drowners
Animal Nitrate
Trash
We Are the Pigs
My Insatiable One
She’s Not Dead
Breakdown
Moving
The Only Way I Can Love You
She Still Leads Me On
Shadow Self
It Starts and Ends With You
Pantomime Horse
That Boy on the Stage
So Young
Metal Mickey
Encore
Beautiful Ones
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