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Supergrass - The Royal College of Music
Supergrass wish to be taken seriously. After an 11 year career of hits, puppet based videos and the finest sideburns in all of Oxford they’ve decided to make their grown-up album. Latest single St Petersburg may have come as a surprise to fans used to such pop gems as Alright, Pumpin’ On Your Stereo and Grace but it signified a change of direction and intent perhaps neccessary a decade since the heady days of Britpop.
In the spirit of this new direction the band headed off on a brief acoustic tour of small venues. The Royal College of Music in Manchester proved an intimate if slightly unfamiliar venue to kick off the tour. Gaz and Rob Coombes donned matching hats, red and black respectively. Clearly these were men with stories to tell and the crowd were ready to hear them.
Gaz opened the set with a solo performance of their new single. Remniscent of a more sedate Late in the Day the opener set the tone for the whole performance. Although fan favourites such as Caught by the Fuzz and Moving were to be revisited they were done so in an almost sombre fashion. Most of the old songs performed had an autumnal feel so as not to distract from the more textured sound of the new material. That said this was still Supergrass. A band once approached by Steven Spielberg to star in their own Monkees-like sitcom. Drummer Danny Goffey wanted it pointed out that the band had never done anything like this before and bantered with his chums and the crowd about it, then bassist Mick Quinn and a roadie both failed to fix a unfortunate lamp malfunction.
- Supergrass
- The Royal College of Music (8th August 2005)
- Category: Live
- Label: Parlophone
- Reviewed by: Ross
- Published on: 09 Sep 2005
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
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Add to favouritesSongs from the new album Road to Rouen were tightly performed despite any first night nerves. Gaz Coombes’ voice never faltering along unfamiliar territory. On first impression Roud to Rouen does sound mature, assured and worthy of the critics respect the band would probably deny they care about. However it’s unlikely to make much of a splash commercially as in all fairness the band have predicted in one of their own songs. Their next tour in October should see an injection of energy that acoustic performances unsurprisingly tend to lack but this show itself has proven that Supergrass are capable of reaching a more mature audience and could be around for another decade. Alright?
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