Knorkatorhalle (Columbiahalle), Berlin, Germany15th Mai 2022
Suede - “Coming Up Tour” - Support: Mark Fernyhough
On this tour SUEDE wanted to play their complete album ‘Coming Up’. “Now the shows take place exactly 25 years after the release, which is much more satisfying in terms of numbers,” reported the band. Since the 1990s, the British band SUEDE has stood for a great departure, a new style - and still do so today. The music that revolutionized Brit-Pop. Never stand still. Constantly challenging yourself. Or as the band puts it: “Getting the energy of what you used to do without becoming a self-parody is the holy grail”. The evening was opened by Mark Fernyhough.
Mark Fernyhough
Dark Indie Dandy Mark Fernyhough, as post-punk.com/ dubbed him in one of its articles, opened the “Coming Up” tour of legendary SUEDE in Berlin. Mark F is a British-born, Berlin-based artist who released his epic new album ‘Nightscape’ this year and was honored to warm up the audience in front of SUEDE on numerous tours. He mixes his musical activities with Vogue featured conceptual art and photography, plus directs his own music videos. “It’s nice to sidestep the value system of the music industry and flirt with the art scene. Art, books, and style have always been as inspiring to me as music. Bands like SUEDE and ROXY MUSIC created an entire experience- their own musical and visual language. That school of thought is what I’m interested in exploring.”, - Mark argued in one of the interviews.
Mark’s performance was lyrical and somewhat detached, although he tried his best to communicate with the audience. But for many, he became the discovery of this evening, many had not heard his songs before and asked me if I knew something about this artist. Acoustic set by the great and lovely Mark Fernyhough, opening for SUEDE in Berlin.
Setlist
01. Human Again
02. Blackbirds
03. Moonlight Lovers
04. Steal My Love
05. Fell Out Of Love With Myself
06. Berlin
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
Suede
Probably every music-lover has a turning point, an artist or an album that lays the foundation of your musical perception and shapes you as a listener, or as a music critic. In my case that turning point was the ‘Coming Up’ album by SUEDE. In 2008 I couldn’t have imagined that I would take photographs of SUEDE at the Columbiahalle in Berlin and that it would be a concert dedicated to ‘Coming Up’, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Everything seemed so dreamy and unrealistic at the time, but it’s so uninteresting. Dreams should come true… It all started with my acquaintance with a music critic, who let me read a couple of old British magazines with posters of SUEDE, also let me listen to their CDs and showed me the early video clips, told me how cool it felt to interview artists, write reports, take pictures, and it all started... So, for 14 years now, I have studied all the angles of reporting, event organization and editorial work on a music portal. And I’m proud that SUEDE has been my guide to this wonderful world of sounds and lights.
Since the 1990s, the British band SUEDE has been creating a new musical style, and has revolutionized Brit-pop. The epatage, the androgyny, the style, and the quality of the sound shaped the SUEDE universe. And in 1996 they released ‘Coming Up’, the most commercially successful album of their career, and at the same time the first one recorded with a line-up that is still active today. ‘Coming Up’ went to number one in the UK, went platinum, and was the second SUEDE album to be nominated for a Mercury Award. So, after 25 years, we can look back and relive all the euphoria and romance of that album.
There was practically no empty space in the Columbiahalle. And most of the fans came in official SUEDE merch. And it’s a nice feature of the audience in Europe. The fans try to support their idols as much as they can. The band started their performance with rousing ‘Trash’ and ‘Filmstar’. Brett didn’t seem to lose any of his drive and bounce. It was unbelievably hard to catch him in the shot because he was always twisting, jumping, running, falling, dancing, throwing the mic stand, whipping the mic wire like a whip, and even seemed to be flying between the other band members and the loudspeakers sometimes. No, no, seriously, I thought, “there, that’s a rock star for old school.” You got to rock it so your ears tingle and the crowd tears up. That’s rock, kids. Beer was thrown at me and the camera. Whatever. I want more. That’s what real Brit-pop is.
‘Lazy’, ‘By the Sea’, Beautiful Ones’, ‘Saturday Night’, plunged the audience into romantic oblivion. And ended the first part of the concert. After a short break the band blew up the audience again with songs like ‘Snowbild’, ‘Killing of a Flashboy’, and ‘We Are the Pigs’ and the general cheering filled the atmosphere again. Such was the contrast of the whole concert, and the cherry on the cake was Brett’s acoustic solo performance of ‘The Wild Ones’. The audience froze, enjoying his voice and guitar parts. Then came the famous ‘So Young’, ‘Animal Nitrate’, ‘Everything Will Flow’ (Acoustic), and ‘New Generation’. How I didn’t want to say goodbye that night. And of course, that night will never be erased from my memory.
Here they come
The beautiful ones
The beautiful ones
La la la la
Setlist
- Part 1 -
01. Trash
02. Filmstar
03. Lazy
04. By the Sea
05. She
06. Beautiful Ones
07. Starcrazy
08. Picnic by the Motorway
09. The Chemistry Between Us
10. Saturday Night
- Part 2 -
11. Snowbild
12. Killing of a Flashboy
13. We Are the Pigs
14. Can’t Get Enough
15. It Starts and Ends With You
16. Tides
17. The Wild Ones (Brett solo acoustic)
18. So Young
19. Metal Mickey
20. Animal Nitrate
---
21. Everything Will Flow (Acoustic)
22. New Generation
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 9
Light: 7
Total: 9 / 10
All pictures by Iryna Kalenska
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