Gloria, Cologne, Germany11th October 2022
Suede - “Autofiction” Tour 2022
At the end of May SUEDE released the first single of their new album. ‘She Still Leads Me On’ is a hymn to singer Brett Anderson’s mother and sets the tone of ‘Autofiction’ which was released on September 16 and is about Anderson’s self-invention. It’s about his mistakes and his confusion and finally being honest with himself when he’s over 50.
Musically, SUEDE leave the path of the last three albums. ‘Bloodsports’, ‘Night Thoughts’ and ‘The Blue Hour’, the first three albums after a ten-year break and released between 2013 and 2018, sounded more and more lush, full, magnificent. But the Brits have always changed their sound just when it was on the verge of becoming a cliché. They were the first Britpop band to completely free themselves from this unloved label and have since worked on new sounds again and again. The constant change is also important for the band, because the audience cannot be fooled: “As soon as you get bored of what you’re doing, the audience get bored.” That, one can state, has never happened to SUEDE. Even after their acclaimed reunion in 2010, the charismatic front man and his comrades-in-arms easily managed to continue their top compositional achievements and set standards in their shows. Now, they came for two shows to Germany to present the new album.
Music & Performance
When I arrived at the venue short before doors opened, the queue was very long. Well, at the end, the show was sold out and there was no support act, so no one wanted to miss anything. The audience was very mixed from people in their twenties to people much over fifty. The club filled quickly and was extremely packed at 20:30 when the show finally started. The first part of the show presented the whole ‘Autofiction’ album. The band and especially Bret were in best mood and full of power. While during the first three songs, Bret played with audience and photographers in the pic, he came down from stage into the pit right at the next one ‘The Only Way I Can Love You’. He acted as he was still twenty, stood on the monitors and special podium, dived into the crowd later during ‘What Am I Without You?’, was swinging his microphone lead or was crawling and kneeing on the floor. There was much energy during the whole show, only calmer moment was for ‘Drive Myself Home’ when Bret was only accompanied by piano. He was completely sweated and even though today was not his best day when it comes to his vocal performance, the sheer joy in playing and fantastic music guaranteed for a perfect show.
After the album closer ‘Turn Off Your Brain and Yell’, the band left the stage for some mounted to prepare for the second set, presenting lots of old classics, hits and hidden gems and varied from city to city. Down the memory lane so to say with ‘Can’t Get Enough’, ‘So Young’ or final song ‘Beautiful Ones’. SUEDE are definitely a fantastic live band. It was an amazing concert and anyone left the club in best mood. Sure, Bret did not hot all notes, but who cared? The band still stands for fantastic concerts. You should convince yourself!
Setlist
-Autofiction-
01. She Still Leads Me On
02. Personality Disorder
03. 15 Again
04. The Only Way I Can Love You
05. That Boy on the Stage
06. Drive Myself Home
07. Black Ice
08. Shadow Self
09. It’s Always the Quiet Ones
10. What Am I Without You?
11. Turn Off Your Brain and Yell
-2nd Set-
12. Outsiders
13. It Starts and Ends With You
14. Heroine
15. Can’t Get Enough
16. Sometimes I Feel I’ll Float Away
17. So Young
18. Metal Mickey
19. Animal Nitrate
20. Beautiful Ones
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 10
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10
All pictures by Dani Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
Comments powered by CComment