Review: Vanessa Monaghan
Photos: Natalie Byrne
On the second of three nights in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, performing their first three albums in full, Suede’s sophomore ‘Dog Man Star’, was given the live treatment.
Dog Man Star was released in October 1994 and saw the band slightly distance themselves from the Britpop scene of the time. The album featured more elaborate, epic, self indulgent tracks than their debut. Richard Oakes wasn’t old enough to vote when he was drafted in on guitar, following the departure of Bernard Butler, who left before recording of the album was completed.
One by one Suede, the band come to the stage as the orchestral strains of Still Life fill the venue, stage lights are dimmed for ‘Introducing the band’. For a guy who didn’t think he’d make it to thirty, Brett Anderson is looking extremely lean and athletic and is the envy of many of thirty/forty- something crowd. He also has an energy and charisma that many of his younger counterparts lack.
There’s no ‘Hello, Dublin’ or any chit chat, the band stick strictly to running order for ‘Dog Man Star’. That doesn’t mean there is no interaction, Anderson uses every inch of himself to interact with the audience. Standing on the wedges, his body language egging on the refrain of ‘We Are The Pigs’. He encourages the crowd to get more involved with his outstretched arms. The acoustic led ‘Wild Ones’ sees the singer climb from the stage and down to the front of the pit, where he touches hands in a Messiah like fashion. Adoration like this normally only happens for bands at the height of their career.
Live, ‘Daddy’s Speeding’ retains its intensity while ‘The Power’ shows off nice vocal harmonies. The band are flawless in the execution of the music. The opening notes of ‘New Generation’ has the audience clapping in time. The uptempo gets the biggest cheer of the night so far, perhaps echoing the fans’ anticipation for some of the better known singles. Anderson’s enthusiasm for the track is hard to miss, giving it socks and leading this writer to believe he has seriously been underestimated as a front man. He carries the momentum into ‘This Hollywood Life’, finishing the song balancing on the monitor wedges at the front of the stage.
Although the pace changes slows down for ‘The Two of Us’, the crowd help Brett with every word as far as the high falsetto note. There’s a delicate balance sometimes between awkward and spine tingling, the silences here are far from awkward. In an appreciation of Anderson’s vocal prowess, you could hear a pin drop.
Originally, ‘The Asphalt World’ was allegedly a 25 minute composition. A nine minute, twenty five second version made it to the album. The blues tinged track lets the band loose in a very controlled manner, sticking to the album version, showing fantastic musicianship.
As ‘Still Life’ closes out the album and this part of the show, the band smile. A great big finale sound washes across the auditorium quite rightly, even those in seats are standing in acclamation.
During this tour, the band have chosen to play some of their hits and rarities during an encore. Tonight was no different. B Side to ‘We are the Pigs’, ‘Whipsnade’ and ‘Killing Of A Flashboy’, great tracks in their own right. Uptempo, highly emotive, dirty grungey guitar sounds. Perfect. Suede are now in overdrive. So Young and Metal Mickey has The Olympia faithful in full voice and shows what a powerhouse Suede were and tonight have proven they still are.
With every ounce of my 1995 self, urging them to play Animal Nitrate, my wish is granted as the venue erupts. Musicianship, front man abilities and the songs. Suede have it all. An encore to beat all encores. They still didn’t say anything to the audience. They let the music do the talking. Amazing.