SUEDE + DESPERATE JOURNALIST – WINTER GARDEN, EASTBOURNE 9.12.23
Suede are back on the road again having announced four additional UK headline shows to their 2023 ‘Autofiction’ tour. These being Lincoln’s Engine Shed (10th December), Portsmouth’s Guildhall (11th) and Wolverhampton’s The Halls (13th) before two headline shows at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 16th and 17th. However, they open up with their first ever Eastbourne concert in their 34 year history, which is astounding especially as 56 year old enigmatic frontman Brett Anderson is a local Sussex boy having grown up in and around Haywards Heath, and been born in Lindfield. Tonight we are at the Winter Garden for a sold-out performance. This is my second venture to this decent venue, the first being back on 21st May this year, when I witnessed a fab gig by fellow Britpoppers Blur – Review HERE. In fact there a several similarities between these two concerts: the compact choice of venue instead of playing elsewhere to much larger crowd; the bands arguably both fall into the Britpop category; they are both headed by enigmatic frontmen who you tend to concentrate on throughout the performance; these frontmen actively engage with the punters and even enter into the crowd; and the gigs are rammed full of excited fans.
Brett formed Suede with his childhood friend Mat Osman, and they along with Justine Frischmann (of Elastica fame) decided to place an advert for a guitarist in the 28th October 1989 issue of NME which read “Young guitar player needed by London based band. Smiths, Commotions, Bowie, Pet Shop Boys. No Musos. Some things are more important than ability. Call Brett.” The advert attracted the interest of nineteen-year-old Bernard Butler, who soon auditioned to join the band and they settled on the name ‘Suede’. At that stage they were using a drum machine instead of a live drummer.
Suede are here in Eastbourne on the back of their ninth studio album ‘Autofiction’ which debuted at No.2 in the UK Albums Chart and thus marking Suede’s highest charting LP since 1999’s ‘Head Music’. The album was released to widespread critical praise and excitement. With ‘Autofiction’, Suede’s aim was to create an album capturing the unique power and energy that exists between the band and their audience at gigs. A theme that has resonated since the day they announced the album, debuting the bold opening track ‘She Still Leads Me On’ live on stage at a surprise performance in Brussels that was live streamed for fans.
A few months back Suede also announced details of a new project titled Suede30. These being special limited edition 30th anniversary releases, newly mixed and mastered, presenting the band’s classic self-titled debut album in the best sounding way. Find out more HERE. The debut album originally dropped on 29th March 1993 and it reached No.1 in the UK Album Charts and the outfit won the Mercury Prize of ‘Album of the Year’. Four singles were released from it, which are amongst their finest work, those being ‘The Drowners’ (out 11th May 1992 and peaked at No.49), ‘Metal Mickey’ (14th September 1992, No.17), ‘Animal Nitrate’ (22nd February 1993, No.7) and ‘So Young’ (17th May 1993, No.22). Several albums followed: ‘Dog Man Star’ (No.3), ‘Coming Up’ (No.1) and ‘Head Music’ (No.1) but 2002’s ‘A New Morning’ stalled at No.24 and on 28th October 2003 Brett decided to call it a day for the band. However, they got back together and played at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’ shows on 24th March 2010, which at the time Brett described the comeback show as his favourite gig and the pinnacle of his 20-year career. The fire had been set alight again and new albums followed ‘Bloodsports’ (No.10), ‘Night Thoughts’ (No.6), ‘The Blue Hour’ (No.5), and the aforementioned ‘Autofiction’ (No.2).
After the support band had entertained us this evening (see below), there was a decent selection of tunes being played across the PA system, the last of which being The Fall’s ‘Cab It Up!’ and then the lights went down, fans shouted and screamed, and the players took to the expansive stage bang on 9pm. These being Brett Anderson (vocals/acoustic guitar) who arrives last, Mat Osman (Fender bass,) Simon Gilbert (drums), Richard Oakes (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Jazzmaster, Gibson ES-355 and Jag guitars/bv’s) and Neil Codling (keys/Yamaha SG1000 guitar/bv’s). Their 88 minute set would see them perform no less than 19 decent songs to the devoted. They kick off with a trio from the new platter, these being ‘Turn Off Your Brain And Yell’, ‘Personality Disorder’ and ‘15 Again’, which witnesses Brett milking the crowd for their positive responses as he explores every inch of the front of the stage with boundless energy. For ‘15 Again’ Neil switches from his guitar to keyboard.
Things seriously hotted up for track four ‘The Drowners’ (from the 1993 ‘Suede’ album) as Brett came down from the stage into the photographers pit and then out into the crowd and literally based himself immediately in front of me for around what seemed like a minute. There were so many open mouth’s in disbelief and screams of joy with several fans hugging him as he sang his way through the tune. Bloody magic! After this Brett made his way back stage and after the track had finished he addressed the crowd for the first time “Good evening Eastbourne! How you f*cking doing?”. 1996’s ‘Trash’ (from the ‘Coming Up’ album) was the next choice, this saw Brett crawling around the stage for a while. The big hitting Bowie-esque ‘Animal Nitrate’ (from 1993’s ‘Suede’ album) was up next and was extremely well received by all the standing punters. Brett’s black shirt was already by this stage wringing wet, he was certainly giving it his all. I wish I had as much energy as he does!
Fan favourite ‘We Are The Pigs’ (from 1994’s ‘Dog Man Star’) was now upon us and jolly good it was too. Brett took advantage of the sedate first half of ‘Flytipping’ (on 2018’s ‘The Blue Hour’) and sat on the edge of the stage for a while as his chums played on. He had earned his rest! ‘Snowblind’ (on 2013’s ‘Bloodsports’) was next and followed by a couple from the new LP, these being ‘She Still Leads Me On’ which Brett encouraged the fans to handclap along. This number reminded me of The Wedding Present and a tiny bit of New Order. The second from the album was ‘Shadow Self’, after which Mat, Simon, Richard and Neil vacated the stage as Brett got a hold of his acoustic guitar and perched on top of one of the floor speakers, uttering “I tell you one thing Eastbourne is famous for” and he launched into an acoustic verse of David Bowie’s ‘Laughing Gnome’ “Well I gave him roasted toadstools and a glass of dandelion wine; Then I put him on a train to Eastbourne; Carried his bag and gave him a fag…..”. This was a joyous moment and one never to be repeated! He added “Eastbourne’s not such a sleepy town” and then he quietly strummed his way through ‘The Wild Ones’ (from 1994’s ‘Dog Man Star’).
The final selection from 2022’s ‘Autofiction’ album was the next choice and the quartet returned to stage and they set about performing ‘The Only Way I Can Love You’ and Brett came into the pit again. 2013’s ‘It Starts And Ends With You’ (from ‘Bloodsports’ album) was played and then Mat, Simon and Richard left the stage again to leave just Neil on keys and Brett on vocals as they gave us a quiet and relaxing take of ‘My Dark Star’ from 2011’s expanded version of 1994 ‘Dog Man Star’ album. A couple of early classic tracks from their debut self-titled album were next, the rockin’ ‘So Young’ and show highlight ‘Metal Mickey’ with its singalong chorus of: “She sells hearts; She sells meat; Oh, dad, she’s driving me mad; Come see, ay-ay”. Either side of the encore they played us out with a couple of tunes from 1996’s ‘Coming Up’ album, these being ‘Beautiful Ones’ with its easy singalongable “La, la, la, la” lines and ‘Saturday Night’. Before which Brett confirmed my correct assumption that indeed Suede have never played Eastbourne before. ‘Saturday Night’ had the closest to David Bowie vibe of all of the songs this evening and once again showman Brett was down on the crowd barrier again for one farewell gift. He said “Goodnight and God bless!” and that was it, at 10:28pm they were done. It had been a truly special night! Suede are 34 years into their career, but they act as though they’re a band out on the road promoting their debut album, which I suppose if you factor in the aforementioned Suede30, then arguably this is the case!
Suede:
Brett Anderson – vocals, tambourine (1989–2003, 2010–present)
Mat Osman – bass (1989–2003, 2010–present)
Simon Gilbert – drums (1991–2003, 2010–present)
Richard Oakes – guitars (1994–2003, 2010–present), backing vocals (2002-2003)
Neil Codling – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, guitars, backing vocals (1995–2001, 2010–present)
Suede setlist:
‘Turn Off Your Brain And Yell’ (from 2022 ‘Autofiction’ album)
‘Personality Disorder’ (from 2022 ‘Autofiction’ album)
‘15 Again’ (from 2022 ‘Autofiction’ album)
‘The Drowners’ (from 1993 ‘Suede’ album)
‘Trash’ (from 1996 ‘Coming Up’ album)
‘Animal Nitrate’ (from 1993 ‘Suede’ album)
‘We Are The Pigs’ (from 1994 ‘Dog Man Star’ album)
‘Flytipping’ (from 2018 ‘The Blue Hour’ album)
‘Snowblind’ (from 2013 ‘Bloodsports’ album)
‘She Still Leads Me On’ (from 2022 ‘Autofiction’ album)
‘Shadow Self’ (from 2022 ‘Autofiction’ album)
‘The Laughing Gnome’ (David Bowie cover) (Brett solo acoustic one verse only)
‘The Wild Ones’ (Brett solo acoustic) (from 1994 ‘Dog Man Star’ album)
‘The Only Way I Can Love You’ (from 2022 ‘Autofiction’ album)
‘It Starts And Ends With You’ (from 2013 ‘Bloodsports’ album)
‘My Dark Star’ (Brett and Neil acoustic – piano and vocals) (from 2011 expanded version of 1994 ‘Dog Man Star’ album)
‘So Young’ (from 1993 ‘Suede’ album)
‘Metal Mickey’ (from 1993 ‘Suede’ album)
‘Beautiful Ones’ (from 1996 ‘Coming Up’ album)
(encore)
‘Saturday Night’ (from 1996 ‘Coming Up’ album)
Desperate Journalist were once again the chosen support act on this tour, having also played the first batch of dates with Suede back in the Spring. They formed back in 2012 and are a London based post-punk outfit consisting of Jo Bevan (vocals), Simon Drowner (Fender bass guitar/backing vocals), Rob Hardy (guitar/backing vocals), Caroline Helbert (drums/backing vocals) and are assisted by Charley Stone on Fender Jag-Stang guitar. The story behind the Desperate Journalist name is that it was taken from the title of one of the tunes performed by The Cure as part of their second of six John Peel Sessions, when their track ‘Grinding Halt’ was reworked for the show by Robert Smith (guitar, vocals), Simon Gallop (bass, vocals) and Lol Tolhurst (drums, backing vocals) at the BBC’s Maida Vale 4 Studio on 9th May 1979 and was first broadcast a week later on 16th May. The song being retitled ‘Desperate Journalist In Ongoing Meaningful Review Situation’ with new lyrics for ‘Grinding Halt’ as a result of an unfavourable review of The Cure’s debut album ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ in the NME by Paul Morley.
Desperate Journalist have thus far released just four studio albums ‘Desperate Journalist’ (2014), ‘Grow Up’ (2017), ‘In Search Of The Miraculous’ (2019) and ‘Maximum Sorrow!’ (2021), as well as a live album last year by the title of ‘Live At JT Soar’. They have also dropped a host of singles and EP’s. You can find their work on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Desperate Journalist take to the Winter Garden stage at 8pm and deliver seven compositions across the next 27 minutes. Luckily for them, the venue is already almost at full capacity and it’s fair to say that the punters were well behind the outfit from the very start. Clearly many punters (sporting Suede t-shirts) had previously encountered the band and knew what a tight outfit they were. Throughout their set, frontperson Jo – who holds a passing resemblance to Patsy Kensit when she was having hits with Eighth Wonder – holds the audience’s attention as she delivers the lyrics often in an animated way, for instance by running her hands through the back of her hair for effect.
They naturally begin with the opening cut from their debut self-titled album, this being ‘Control’ which sees Rob put his Rickenbacker through its paces and by tune three, their 2017 rockin’ single ‘Be Kind’, he swaps his choice of guitar to a Gibson Les Paul. This track has the vibe of a heavier version of The Smiths and it has a false ending that caught out the crowd with an early applause. They had one at the end as well. Although slower than the two previous tunes, I preferred this one. The Sugarcubes sounding ‘Fault’ from their last studio album was selection four and this reminded me of the beats from the very first Killing Joke ‘Nervous System’ release. After this Rob switched to another guitar, a Fender I think, and drummer Caroline was leading the beat on the next tune, ‘Personality Girlfriend’, the second of four in a row from their last studio LP ‘Maximum Sorrow!’. Their penultimate number was ‘Cedars’, and Jo’s enthusiastic vocals reminded me of Debbie Harry meets Sophie Ellis-Bextor. They closed with ‘Satellite’ which contained some rather excellent guitar work that Robert Fripp would have certainly approved of. Suffice to say that the band went down a storm!
Desperate Journalist:
Jo Bevan – vocals
Simon Drowner – bass guitar/backing vocals
Rob Hardy – guitar/backing vocals
Caroline Helbert – drums/backing vocals
Charley Stone – guitar
Desperate Journalist setlist:
‘Control’ (from 2015 ‘Desperate Journalist’ album)
‘Why Are You So Boring?’ (2017 single)
‘Be Kind’ (2017 single)
‘Fault’ (from 2021 ‘Maximum Sorrow!’ album)
‘Personality Girlfriend’ (from 2021 ‘Maximum Sorrow!’ album)
‘Cedars’ (from 2019 ‘In Search Of The Miraculous’ album)
‘Satellite’ (from 2019 ‘In Search Of The Miraculous’ album)
