The Birthday JD Set with Brett Anderson & John McClure Village Underground, London 8/10/09
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Tonight’s no ordinary show, but in Twitter-compatible terms it might be surmised thus: Multiple generations of Britrock heroes perform alongside Nashville maestros in a cavernous East London space adorned with black and white prints of performances of yesteryear and complimentary liquor from our generous patrons at Jack Daniels is procured via plectrum-shaped tokens at the bar.
But we’ve barely had time to down our first gratis Apple Jack by the time Jon ‘The Reverend’ McClure takes to the stage, and even a guest appearance from former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock can’t mobilize The Rev’s demagogic baggy at this early juncture.
However, the real draw tonight is former Suede front man Bret Anderson, Suede being a band who lost their way somewhat towards the end of their career but were unequivocally f***ing amazing from 1992-1997.
If you were a music fan raised amidst stultifying suburbia in the mid to late 90s, then Suede were an absolute Godsend; all seedy glamour, sexual charge and enticingly exotic gritty big-city danger. Pity the kids a decade later with their vanilla landfill indie: you just don’t get that watching The Hoosiers on T4. A still-lissom and debonair Bret performs some bona fide Suede classics (‘The Wild Ones’, ‘Trash’) and not-so-classics (‘Everything Will Flow’) in a truncated but memorable set.
Photographs copyright Debbie Bragg 2009.
Artists in this article: Bret Anderson, Suede, Reverend And The Makers
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