Suede came along with a powerful dose of “Antidepressants”, just when I needed it most.

Sometimes, when life is bringing you down, a gig comes along that is exactly the tonic you need. At the time of this gig in the summer of 2025, I was in the midst of a turbulent time, with my mum gravely ill in hospital Canada, unlikely to ever be able to return to her home. I’d recently been there on a visit to spend time with her while it was still possible, and start the weary process of clearing her flat in readiness for the inevitable. Now back in London, I was doing my best to continue with normal life, but eternally on high alert, waiting for the phone call to tell me she’d taken another turn for the worse.

It was in this frame of mind that I prepared myself to head out to the Clore Ballroom on this muggy late summer evening, to hear Suede’s new album for the first time. These eras of life are very strange, with so much energy being expended on trying to maintain a façade of normality while inwardly breaking apart. For a few moments, as I turned on my Suede playlist and contemplated outfits for the gig, my façade crumbled a little. As I recorded later in my diary:

‘Yeah so maybe half an hour before I started to get ready I had a crash and cried for a while to “To The Birds” et al. Maybe just at the thought of who I was, how life was when I listened to those songs in the 90s and how much is lost forever now, etc. Then I picked myself up with whisky and got eyelinered and glittered and headed out into the suffocatingly muggy evening.’

I finally made it out the door, suitably glammed up and ready, and got to the Royal Festival Hall around 8pm. I’ve visited this venue many times of course, but had never been to the Clore Ballroom before, so once I found my way there I was delighted to discover a fantastic looking gig space. It somehow seemed both intimate and spacious at the same time, decked out in round red lights, the stage in the centre of the room with crowd areas to the front and both sides. I found myself a spot in the front section, six or seven rows back, with a great view.

I’ve written in this blog about my disappointment with their previous album “Autofiction”. This had led me to feel a bit out of step with the Suede fandom for the previous few years. However, the few tracks they’d released so far from its follow up “Antidepressants”, which we were to hear in full for the very first time this evening, had been much more promising, and I was looking forward to a new Suede era in which my love for the band could be fully reignited. And I got that and a whole lot more. This gig was everything I needed at exactly the right time.

The lights dimmed at ten to nine and we were plunged into a pulsating dark rhythm that reminded me somewhat of how the “Critical Thinking” remix had sounded at the start of recent Manics gigs. But it soon morphed into the beginning of “Disintegrate”. with its disembodied voice repeating “connected-disconnected”. Finally the boys walked on stage, Brett sauntering on last as ever. It was a pretty thrilling entrance, and especially exciting to be so close.

The band were in full throttle from the first second. They stormed through every track of “Antidepressants” and it was immediately clear what a different album it would be from the drudge of “Autofiction”. The songs may have had a similar heavy, punky edge, but there was an injection of light and shade that allowed the tunes to breathe. More than once there were some spooky warped guitar shapes which reminded me of Mansun, who to me are one of the mightiest bands of them all.

And the response from the crowd was sheer raptures of joy which carried on for the whole run through. Opening with “Disintegrate”, it may as well have been one of their beloved classics for how the crowd hollered “come down and disintegrate with me!” along with Brett, arms in the air. Of the rest of the album tracks, only the exuberant “Dancing With The Europeans” and the uncharacteristically electro-moody “Trance State” had been heard at this point. I remember thinking, as each new song was presented to us, that every one of them was so full of energy and vibrant hooks. For me, it was an incredibly welcome return for Suede to their full power, and the rest of the crowd seemed similarly enthralled. I’ve never witnessed such a fervent response to entirely new songs.

The second set was comprised entirely of post-reunion tracks, with Brett declaring at its start “we are the anti-nostalgia band!”. While I can fully understand their desire to remain fresh and vital, not bogged down by the weight of their back catalogue, I do have to say that their choice of songs for this second set dropped the thrill level a little. If they’d sprinkled in a few 90s classics at this point, this could have been a strong contender for my best Suede gig ever, but 50% of the set was given over to “Autofiction” tunes, which obviously was not what I was hoping for. There were however some wonderful moments, in particular the majestic “Tides”, sadly the only track from their glorious 2018 album “The Blue Hour” that was played this evening. And I will admit the “Autofiction” songs did sound much better here when mixed with other tracks, and not all at once as at the gig I went to in October ’22.

Overall, this was a truly glorious evening. To be able to witness one of my favourite bands deliver a brilliant new album with such confidence and energy well over 30 years since I started listening to them is a wonderful thing indeed. Suede’s energy and power remains remarkably undimmed with the passing decades. And for me, on this late summer evening last year, their shot of “Antidepressants” was exactly the dose of medicine I needed in troubled times.