What can I say? Suede do spoil us. They give us free and special gigs galore. They play their hearts out every time I've seen them.

I've never seen a bad Suede gig. I've seen some gigs that are less than absolute genius (The dark days of Brett's lost-it-to-bostik middle of the DogManStar tour period), some that are merely bloody funny (The I've-only-got-one-guitar-better-improvise-wildly of the Ilford Island), and some that see them oddly turn into Kraftwerk fronted by The Ramones (that's "Headmusic" at the ICA).

But I've never seen a gig that felt like an experiment. Like Suede in a glas bowl and we're up close. Maybe, maybe, it's the short 35 minute set. Maybe, maybe, it's that Brett can't seem to speak. Maybe, maybe it's the fact that HMV haven't moved the CD's, so we're all huddled in rows three foot wide and one hundred foot deep. Maybe maybe it's the security guards that guard the entrance to each row to stop us actually getting into the space at the front (size approx 7ft x 10ft full of people who seem asleep). Maybe its the fact that the staid Brits are so restrained I feel like a circus freak for daring to shake my bits to the hits. Maybe maybe it's the huddle of apathetic mugs near the front who don't know the words to the songs. (To see someone mime their version of the words to the “The Beautiful Ones” on the HMV video screen when they clearly think the words go "flub, flub, flub, diesel, flub, gasoline, flub, flub, flub, flub, flub, flub, flub, flub, la la la la la" is simply painful. Especially when you want to stand where they are, right under the nose of the band, and shake your booty).

Which makes me kind of feel that somehow I'm not at a Suede gig : not at the joyous celebration that Suede gigs normally are, but that I'm stood at the back of a room watching them perform for some Top Of The Pops audience and not a room full of Suedehead nutters.

But hey, less of that, not because I'm feeling particularly charitable, but because Suede themselves are great. Because they dispense fabulous songs, that have never sounded better. Seriously, whoever's doing the sound mixing tonight should make their records, because it sounds fabulous. Clear, strong, with an absolutely perfect sound mix. Which is a rarity. It's the best ever version of "ANIMAL NITRATE" ever. fact. With two duelling guitars, a wildly improvised solo from Richard, and lots of guts. More guts than the butchers shop in "METAL MICKEY", which features a brand spanking new ending, and a ton of whizzy guitars. Hooray for guitars.

As much as I've ever loved anything, I love Richard's guitars. The way he hits a bum note in"WE ARE THE PIGS", and yet it still sounds right, it fabulous. Even if Matt does grin like a Cheshire cat. And the way that "THIS HOLLYWOOD LIFE" has more bite than a warehouse full of piranhas. And the way that Alex looks like he's always belong there. As if that he's the perfect guy for the job, and that Suede have never sounded better. Even if they have had livelier audiences.

In the meantime Brett shuts his eyes, pretends he isn't playing to 300 apathetic people in a repressed record shop, and concentrates with the job in hand. Flogging product to get a bulk order from HMV, probably. Doesn't matter. Great music will prevail. Always. Want It. Need It. Like Oxygen. Like one hit to the body from a golden gun. Like life itself.

It's music like this that makes the world a better place.

oh yeah, the setlist...
ATTITUDE / THIS HOLLYWOOD LIFE / WE ARE THE PIGS / TRASH /  METAL MICKEY / ANIMAL NITRATE / CAN'T GET ENOUGH / OBSESSIONS / BEAUTIFUL ONES

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