Paradise lost and found: the world premiere of Suede’s Night Thoughts is astonishing

As Night Thoughts hasn’t been released yet, the first set this evening could have lacked engagement through the unfamiliarity of the material. Yet Suede cleverly offset this by tweaking the rules of performance and subverting the trope of playing a classic album in full and do so from behind a film screen.

The film itself, directed by photographer Roger Sargent and written by Stephanie de Giorgio, is a stunning series of scenes from the dying memory of its main protagonist called ‘Man’ about his relationship with his partner (’Woman’) and a terrible tragedy that unravels their lives. It’s incredibly bleak at times but like a Mike Leigh film, depicts pathos with a down to earth realism.

Before they come on for the Night Thoughts set the mise en scène is already established via the film screen across the front of the stage. As the lights go down the bands shadows drift across the screen whilst the film starts. It’s an odd, strangely unsettling experience but a thrilling one.

Strings usher in the cinematic “When You Are Young”, where the film shows the bedraggled Man walking into the sea. That they go straight into “Outsiders” (which sounds like a new wave take on Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”) without a pause disorientates the senses further, with the audience trying to retune itself to a very different way of watching a concert. For the Night Thoughts section Suede ditch all of the established live etiquette (play song, receive applause, talk to the audience, play next song…) It’s different and it’s challenging, but ultimately, it’s wonderful.

At this point you realise that Suede’s live performance is also part of the films’ narrative tonight. Spotlights occasionally pick out some or all them and transpose them into the visual, not in an arbitrary fashion but a purposeful one. In “Outsiders” Anderson is lit up as he’s facing right, effectively standing back to back with Man.

“What I'm Trying To Tell You” shows how tightly focussed their live soundtrack is synched with the film (there isn’t a single pause between the songs). At one point in the film Man mouths the chorus, but the live playing doesn’t quite sync. When Simon Gilbert subsequently misses a drum beat you think it’s the first musical slip up of the evening, however the next piece of singing from Man synchs perfectly.

“Tightrope” is the visual reveal of the story and jumps between two timeframes, an idyllic cornfield and a beach where Man’s young son is playing. On the beach Man makes the fatal mistake of turning his back on the child and when he turns round the child is lost to the sea. The impact of the tragedy on the familial relationships echoes that of Nicolas Roeg’s film Don’t Look Now.

The scene of closing song “The Fur & The Feathers” is set at the films beginning, with Man drowning himself and the butterfly effect of the tragedy comes full circle. When it ends and the credits roll, the feeling is one of emotional exhaustion, so immersive is the delivery. The room is full of mourning, but not misery. The best art doesn’t have to be the prettiest after all.

After the intermission the screen comes up and the mood visibly changes. The songs for the second set are predominantly from their first two albums and attendant B-Sides - the only reference to 2013s comeback album Bloodsports is a B-side “Darkest Days”. Perhaps this is a nod to the rapprochement with Bernard Butler, with thirteen of the sixteen songs of the set drawn from his period in the band.

They romp into an irresistibly energetic “Moving” and then the evergreen “Killing Of A Flashboy” and as a showman and singer, Anderson undeniably still has it. The dance moves haven’t changed and he still swings his microphone in the air, but the impression is of a man and a band at peace. Neil Codling, who always had a whiff of Dorian Grey about him, looks younger than ever, bassist Matt Osman the stolid lieutenant to the side of drummer Gilbert, still solid and poker faced and finally Richard Oakes, whose guitar playing is still underrated despite nearly twenty years in the band.

But Anderson is the fulcrum, with the sheer joy that he puts into the spectacle. During “Trash” he indulges in some good old-fashioned call and response, with his ‘What do they call us?’ prompting a mass singalong and ignites the celebratory mood of set two.

The breakneck speed of playing so many songs without a pause means there has to be a breather at some point and a masterful “Pantomime Horse” provides it, followed by Anderson and Oakes playing a lovely take of the acoustic “The Living Dead”.

Like the Night Thoughts film they end at the start, with all three songs from their first EP, “The Drowners”, “My Insatiable One” (where Anderson disappears into the crowd and remerges having lost most of his shirt buttons) and “To The Birds” forming an immaculate triumvirate to finish off the evening.

Tonight Suede created an ingenious way of performing an album live and embraced their past, present and future quite brilliantly. At times it wasn’t for the faint hearted, but they pulled it off with élan because they’ve always been brave and ambitious enough to do things differently. Or to paraphrase a line from Robert Frost, they’ve taken the road less travelled and it's made all the difference.

Setlist

Set 1 – Night Thoughts

When You Are Young
Outsiders
No Tomorrow
Pale Snow
I Don't Know How To Reach You
What I'm Trying To Tell You
Tightrope
Learning To Be
Like Kids
I Can't Give Her What She Wants
When You Were Young
The Fur & The Feathers

Set 2

Moving
Killing Of A Flashboy
Trash
Animal Nitrate
We Are The Pigs
Heroine
Pantomime Horse
The Living Dead
Darkest Days
New Generation
So Young
Metal Mickey
The Beautiful Ones

---Encore---

The Drowners
My Insatiable One
To The Birds

• Photo by Burak Cingi. See the full gallery here.