Supergrass is on the last leg of their Australian tour celebrating 30 years (!) since the release of their seminal 1995 album, 'I Should Coco' – and what a brilliant album it is.
I last saw them at the same music hall - Brisbane's The Tivoli – in 2008. It's hard to believe it's almost two decades since that memorable tour, done in support of their most recent album, 'Diamond Hoo Ha'.'I Should Coco' is still their peak musically, although they went on to release some excellent subsequent music, and they remain very strong live performers. The Britpop legends formed out of Oxford in 1993, and were heavily influenced by greats such as Madness, The Jam and The Kinks.
They launched their career with the 1994 release of one of their best-known pieces, 'Caught By The Fuzz'. This early hit and much of the first album is widely seen as a chaotic celebration of teenage freedom, and I would add a celebration of being a little strange or offbeat. The success of the first single saw the boys move into a studio to record the full album, and that's why we were at The Tivoli (11 June) to celebrate.
Support for the evening is veterans Rocket Science, out of Melbourne. The band comes highly recommended and is supporting Supergrass for the full tour.
Theirs was a great 40-minute set, and the highlight was probably the use of the theremin to introduce 'Copycat', or an earlier instrumental segment reflecting the influence of The Doors, through which singer Roman Tucker played air guitar and did a contorted dance when he was away from the keyboard and theremin.
Rocket Science - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Drummer Kit Warhurst – who was fantastic on the skins, and had a real swing in some of their music – noted the boys had been close to Supergrass for over 20 years, when they first supported the British group and were subsequently asked to tour the UK for six months with them.
Supergrass hit the stage – framed by a huge backdrop of the three faces on the famous album cover – and kicked straight into it. The evening was to feature the album in full, and in its original order.
So the opener was the brilliant, 'I'd Like To Know'. It's well-known and one of the highlights from the album. The lyrics, 'I'd like to know where all the strange ones go', to me sums up the whole feeling of the album.
Supergrass - image © Clea-marie Thorne
It really is a fantastic song, such that later on in the album, another belter, 'Strange Ones', was apparently borne from 'I'd Like To Know' being played in reverse. 'Caught By The Fuzz' followed, with a real punk feel as with the original. It's a brief song but it's a classic, dealing with issues faced by youth moving (or trying to move) out of the purview of their parents.
The song is lengthened tonight by an extended pause before the third verse, but overall it was one of the few times during the evening where there was a significant departure from the recorded version.
'Mansize Rooster', which has never been one of my favourites on the album, follows. 'Alright' is up next, and is one of the two best-received singles of the band in Australia. Gaz Coombe's brother Rob, who was not a band member at the time of recording, takes the famous piano intro for the piece, and again it's a real celebration of youth with its repeated 'we are young, we are free'!
Supergrass - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Four songs in and the crowd participation was louder and more active than any other band I can recall recently, such is the sheer quality of the introduction to this album, and 'Mansize Rooster' did not lag the three better-known showing it was also one the crowd favourites.
'Lose It' and 'Lenny' followed in short order, before hitting 'Strange Ones'. This was the standout for the evening. Tonight's version didn't really deviate from the album but drummer Danny Goffey was brilliant. The song speeds up a touch halfway through each verse, and at this point Goffey was outstanding with his drum work, and the clanging church bells at the end was a lovely touch.
The rest of the album follows, and in my view the pick of those later songs was 'She's So Loose', which is probably a better song live than the studio version. A final song worth mention is the jaunty 'We're Not Supposed To'. Drummer Goffey played bass for this one, and Gaz told the audience they were taking a lot of acid when they recorded the album; this unusual song makes this very plausible!
Supergrass - image © Clea-marie Thorne
After the album, there followed a smattering of their other better-known material including 'Richard III', the beautiful 'Late In The Day', 'Mary' and 'Moving', another which I have always felt is more of a live song.
Gaz had some fun banter at this stage, pleading for the crowd to let them wind up, laughing that an hour and a half is too long for a concert these days from their perspective. First in the encore was 'Sun Hits The Sky' lifted from the second album. It's a fairly basic piece of music, but certainly lent itself to an energetic and anthemic windup.
Last up was their most-celebrated song in Australia, 'Pumping Up The Stereo'. It's another that is not quite up there with their best from my perspective, but it was a clear highlight of the evening.
Gaz stood onstage, and said something to the effect of "you know what it is", and the crowd started quietly chanting the intro, slowly at first, until joined by the band. It was a great note to go out on, and I'm now forced to give it further listening time to give it another chance.
Supergrass - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The boys looked genuinely chuffed when taking their collective bow at the end of the show. This was a fantastic evening, and The Tivoli was the perfect, intimate setting for the show.
I was slightly surprised by how ordered everything felt given what I feel is a very chaotic recording. However, that chaos probably reflects their age at the time (when they were all in their teens).
The record – which Gaz called "this quite bonkers little album" during the show – has completely stood the test of time, and gave a life-changing springboard from which the band leapt into a catalogue of excellent music and great live shows.
More photos from the concert.
