Suede | 4/5

SINGAPORE — By the time the London alternative rock band, Suede delivered its encore, the wistfully romantic anthem that is Saturday Night — there was a palpable high experienced by the enraptured crowd simultaneously.

Watching the 1,000-strong Suede faithful screaming out song lyrics, jumping up and down to the pulsating rhythms, pushing feverishly to the front of the stage to get closer to their heroes, one would never imagine that this was the sixth performance in Singapore by Messrs Brett Anderson (vocals), Mat Osman (bass), Richard Oakes (guitar), Simon Gilbert (drums) and Neil Codling (keyboards/guitar).

From pre-show interviews, it was clear that Suede was very mindful that its 2010 reunion wouldn’t turn the band into an irrelevant “oldies” act. Perhaps that’s why the quintet opened with three tracks from their 2013 release, Bloodsports — Faultlines, Barriers and It Starts And Ends With You — before launching into the their first crowd-pleaser, Trash, which garnered rapturous roars from the audience.

From then on, it was the Brett Anderson show — quite possibly one of the hardest working frontmen in rock — as he channelled Bryan Ferry, David Bowie and Mick Jagger with his onstage antics. Looking svelte in a casual shirt and jeans combo, Anderson worked the sympathetic crowd brilliantly. On at least three songs, Anderson moved into the pit between stage and audience and connected with the Suede diehards. The crowd naturally lapped up every opportunity.

From the song selection, it was obvious that Suede was going for maximum pop impact, ignoring material from the darker operatic Dog Man Star album, and put the focus on the highly-commercial Coming Up album, performing seven tracks from it: Trash, She, Filmstar, By The Sea, Lazy, Beautiful Ones and Saturday Night.

The band did play four more unfamiliar new songs — Snowblind, Hit Me, Sometimes I Feel I’ll Float Away and What Are You Not Telling Me — perhaps to establish itself firmly as a current and relevant band, and not one that was forever stuck in the ’90s or relied on their glory days of yore. Still, it was evident from the response of the audience that they wanted the familiar hits as they jostled, pranced and lifted their hands every time such songs — So Young, Metal Mickey, Animal Nitrate, etc — were played.

Considering how much effort the band put into delivering the best show it could, the big disappointment was the muddy sound afforded by the venue. The Coliseum at the Hard Rock Hotel isn’t exactly the best venue in the world for a rock show like this — one could barely hear the keyboard or guitar parts, and sometimes even Anderson’s vocals, thanks to an overpowering bass.

At the very end, Anderson made a point to emphasise the special place Singapore held in the band’s collective heart and reminisced about the band’s first time here — back in 1997 at the Harbourfront Pavilion. You left the gig feeling that somehow that this would not be the last time Singapore would see Suede in concert.