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Supergrass farewell gig
Supergrass will be remembered for their musicianship, eccentricity and their ability to write smash hits; songs that crystallise the memory of youthful freedom for many of their thirty-plus fans. At the release of their first single Caught by the Fuzz bassist Mick Quinn and drummer Danny Goffey were in their early twenties, Gaz Coombes was only nineteen. Seventeen years and six albums on, Supergrass, like their audience, have filled out a bit.
The O2 Brixton Academy is full to the brim with a rather boisterous lad-laden crowd, many expecting to belt out the oldies; a slab of beers, tunes, lots of nostalgia and the weekend hasn’t even started, not bad for twenty quid. Supergrass have often given people what they want without necessarily meaning to, as was the case with Alright; their pop-poem about childish freedom misunderstood by the masses as a brit-pop anthem, used as a rally-cry for a generation.
Tonight isn’t about trawling through the hit parade of bygone years, it’s about Supergrass, life, love, legacy; 17 years of being in a difficult musical marriage. The conceit is clear in the gigs’ concept; six mini sets, playing four songs from each album, treating their musical babies as equal. Doing justice to themselves and their hardcore fans by embarking on a trip back in time is, in a quintessentially self-gratuitous rock’n’roll way, the best for everyone; even if they didn’t know it yet.
Four songs from Diamond Hoo Ha open the Supergrass celebration to much toe-tapping but little exuberating, the Bowie-esq Rebel in You being a highlight of the songs synthesizing powerpop and sonorous rock. Highlights from Road to Rouen and Life on Other Planets are next, interspersed by video interludes of typical band hijinks largely recorded by Supergrass’s most recent member Charly Coombes who toured with the band for their last few albums; the difficult period they now march through. Supergrass’s enthusiasm seems to suffer slightly as they navigate their way through Life on Other Planets; three albums in and the crowd still weren’t ‘pumping’, excuse the pun.
However, on reaching Grace the first single from 2002’s Life on Other Planets fever began to spread; the second half was about to kick off and it was sure to feature some hits. Interestingly Grace had featured on 2004’s Supergrass is 10; a greatest hits collection from their first ten years which, considering the general apathy towards their final two albums, can’t really be added to. Supergrass is 10 entered the UK album chart at number four and has since gone gold in the UK. The success of this album in 2004 when Britpop had passed and Supergrass’s music was considered ‘old hat’ is testament to the bands ability to write magical pop songs, and when they croon into Moving halfway through the gig the Brixton crowd are ready to indulge in the highlights from those 10 brilliant years.
What followed was a lot of fun. As anticipated by the pogoing lower section of the Brixton academy Supergrass roll out the hits; playing fan favorites Richard III, Strange Ones and I’d Like to Know as well as ‘all-those-incredible-britpop-hits-that-weren’t-by-blur-or-the-other-lot-but-by-that-band-that-did-that-song-about-feelin-alright’. Finishing without playing ‘that song about feelin alright’ and, of course, Caught by the Fuzz there were only going to be two songs for the encore.
Returning to the stage and playing Alright was a liberating moment for Supergrass; knowing that they only had to lurch into a song they’d grown out of a decade and a half earlier one more time was quite a relief. For the heaving crowd of Brixton academy it was a joy, a timeless hit, squirting the serotonin all over the body, one of those hair-standing-up moments; the reason people go to gigs. During Alright the disparity between Supergrass and the sweaty masses of boozed-up thirty-somethings is at its clearest, while Supergrass saw they’re pop-poem as a bit of fun they’re fans have taken it as the ‘rebellious call to arms’ Gaz Coombes was quoted as saying the song was ‘not at all’. While Supergrass have wanted to move forwards their fans have wanted to travel back. Having reinvented themselves three times for two almost-posthumous albums after the release of Supergrass is 10 Messrs Coombes, Goffey and Quinn have failed to settle on a direction for the future of their music.
As with the case of Alright, tonight Supergrass have given people what they want without necessarily meaning to. By showcasing three difficult albums in Diamond Hoo Ha, Road to Rouen and Life on Other Planets alongside their pre-2000’s albums which bubble with youthful exuberance, ingenuity and eccentricity they have intimately communicated the reason for their farewell. With creativity and irreverence a theme evident throughout their existence as Supergrass we can only wait with excitement to see what individual members do next.
