I'm back from my stay in London. The one that ended with the TCT gig at the Royal Albert Hall, in other words, the Suede concert.
It felt surreal being there, not until right before their entrance did I start to grasp it. These New Puritans, that were the supporting act for the night, were ok. I can’t say anything more at this point. I had listened to them a bit beforehand and their latest album is more to my liking than their first one, I think.
Since the night was one in the row of the whole Teenage Cancer Trust event, of course there were a lot of references to their work and the patients benefitting from it. It’s a horrible disease cancer. I personally haven’t had any person close to me that have been affected, but others yes. The stories told moved me and it became almost like an odd pause in between the frenzy before seeing Suede again after 7.5 years.
I don’t think I can say that much about my own experience of the show. It was warm, sweaty, moving, fantastic, and...
I do wish I would have had more strength and energy to really get into the flow. Don’t get me wrong, I really did. However, since I’ve been unwell for the past six months with not much possibility to function as I usually do, I have a lot to regain when it comes to my physical condition.
There are however some moments of the show that I’d like to write about.
The magical moment – after 'Metal Mickey' had faded. The entire venue were at their feet praising the band. Since most of the Albert Hall audience did this throughout the show, I want to stress how magical and fantastic this moment was. The band did enjoy it too. I still recall the face of Brett looking out at the crowd, how he smiled and his eyes seemed to glimmer. I remember how Mat looked amazed, smiled and shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. Simon also had a smile on his face, and while leaning forward over the drums he too shook his head in the same way as the others and he had joy shining through his eyes.
That moment was something special and I recall turning around from where I was standing in the arena to see all the people around the circle of the venue, it was an amazing sight and I hope this will linger in the minds and hearts of each member of Suede for a very long time.
To write about other moments almost seem unnecessary, however I want to mention a moving moment. It was when Brett dedicated 'He’s Gone' to a friend of his that recently had passed away. The following 'Next Life' made it even stronger. Brett truly can pour his self into the words he sings, and so he did.
It was great to see them all together on stage again. Especially Neil, who wasn’t with them the final years, and Richard too since I haven’t read or heard anything about him (them) since the split. A surprising moment was the intro to 'The Wild Ones', and this due to that is was Neil, not Richard, who played it.
It was a fantastic show. They sounded amazing. One thing adding to the surreal experience was that this was the first time I saw them play when I didn’t expect to hear any new material, and that was odd I must say.
I think their choice of playlist was very good. Of course I would have loved to see them carry on and play even more songs, but obviously that would have been even more surreal.
If I felt joy and a tremendous flow of strong emotions throughout the concert, afterwards I felt so empty. I would have thought that the joy should have lasted longer, but I was struck with an immense sadness whilst going back to my hotel. The wonderful moment was over, over and gone, forever?
The sadness lingers. I look back at the show with warm feelings, great respect and gratefulness, and I treasure the special moments I recall, but even so, the sadness is heavy on my heart. Is it really so, that my greatest love in music is gone forever?
When I last saw them, in November 2002, I didn’t know that they were going to split up so it was just a good concert, like so many others before. However, this time it’s different.
Brett’s words – let’s do it again in another seven years’ time – wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
Since I can't manage to write about this experience at the Royal Albert Hall in the way that I would have loved to do, please read about it through the words of someone that really knows how: Mark Reed on the best night of his life.
I will end this post with the playlist for Suede's magical performance at the Royal Albert Hall on the 24th.
She, Trash, Filmstar, Animal Nitrate, Heroine, Pantomime Horse, The Drowners, Killing of a Flashboy, Can’t Get Enough, Everything Will Flow, He’s Gone, The Next Life, The Asphalt World, So Young, Metal Mickey, The Wild Ones, New Generation, Beautiful Ones, The Living Dead, The 2 of Us, Saturday Night.
It isn’t the same, and can’t be compared to the live show, but here’s the same playlist on Spotify.
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