The last time I braved the elements to see Suede was August 1999, when the blazing summer sun did its best to turn me a lovely shade of lobster (Grim! – Ed) as I stood in the middle of a packed main stage at the Chelmsford leg of V99. So, with gale-force winds and torrential rain causing havoc outside, I’m more than pleased to find myself safe and warm inside the Shepherds Bush Empire, as promising newcomer Gemma Hayes finishes a well-received set.

Twenty minutes passes in a flash and the opening bars of ‘Introducing The Band’, from Suede’s self confessed least favourite album, signals the group’s arrival. Enter Brett Anderson, Richard Oakes and newcomer Alex Lee who set the ball rolling with recent B-side ‘Simon’.  A surprising song to open the set with but the acoustic simplicity of it works wonders and, with the niceties out of the way, the show gets going with a great performance of ‘Positivity’.

After almost ten years of coming across as being a bit of a miserable git, it’s clear from the very beginning of tonight’s show that Brett Anderson is a new man. He looks better (the chiselled-look trademark is there as ever, but he’s never looked so healthy), he sounds better (his voice rings out throughout the performance - never missing a high note) and, judging by the ear-to-ear grin and frequent excursions into the front row, he clearly feels better too. Maybe he’s mellowed with age. Maybe it’s the drug-free way of life. Whatever it is, it has worked wonders.

The band have reached that stage in their career where they have such a enviable back catalogue of hits that the introduction of each song is met with huge cheers from the crowd, all desperate to hear their personal favourites. They cruise through past greats like ‘Everything Will Flow’, ‘Filmstar’, ‘She’s In Fashion’ and ‘Trash’, but it’s the early recordings ‘Metal Mickey’, ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘So Young’ that go down best.

We’re treated to a false-start ‘lounge’ version of new single ‘Obsessions’, before it kicks into gear for real, blowing the recorded version from A New Morning clean out of the water. After a short interlude Brett returns to the stage armed with acoustic guitar and plays a faultless medley that includes classic B-side ‘The Living Dead’. The rest of the band reappear and wrap things up with the Bowie-esque ‘Astro Girl’, ‘Wild Ones’ (the only full song to be played from the Dog Man Star album – described by Brett as “the crap one”) and an ‘all stops pulled out’ rendition of crowd favourite ‘Beautiful Ones’.

Extremely satisfied by a most enjoyable performance I head for the exit to find that it’s even stopped raining. A perfect evening then, and full marks for the original and - dare I say - best ‘Best New Band in Great Britain’.
(5/5)

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