Shaking your bits to the hits as Suede rock Audley End with support from Johnny Marr and Nadine Shah
What better way to kick off the Heritage Live summer concert series at Audley End than by shaking your bits to the hits with headliners Suede?
Before Brett and the band took to the stage, Johnny Marr warmed up the small but enthusiastic crowd.
As he looked out over the audience and nodded to the stately home to his right and the grounds beyond, he said: “So this is Essex? Nice spot.”
And indeed it was the perfect place to spend an evening listening to three superb acts. It was a Goldilocks night – neither too hot nor too cool. The threatened thunderstorms stayed away and Audley End felt like it was filled with discerning music fans.
Nadine Shah started proceedings with a set that showcased her vocal range, honed in her early career as a jazz singer. The hit, Greatest Dancer, is an ethereal track with visceral words.
A contemporary and friend of Amy Winehouse, the 38-year-old’s music has a mournful quality with thought-provoking, playful and sometimes very pointed lyrics.
And so to The Smiths – or rather a guilt-free selection of hits and more from Marr now that Morrissey is persona non-grata in progressive circles.
Shah joined the crowd for Marr’s performance, walking past me singing How Soon Is Now, before being grabbed for a series of selfies with fans.
It always amazes me how people in their 20s and even younger are so familiar with the back catalogue of bands like The Smiths who were at their height two decades before they were born.
The band’s eponymous first album was released a full 40 years ago. In 2064, will 20-year-olds be standing in a field singing the current UK number one, which Google tells me is Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter?
Marr dropped Getting Away With It, his hit with Electronic, a quirky cover of Iggy Pop’s The Passenger and some solo tracks into the set, but the backbone was the music he wrote with Morrissey.
Panic, This Charming Man, Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want, How Soon Is Now and the finale – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out – have stood the test of time and still sound fresh.
Which brings me neatly to Suede. I’ve never seen the band live and I was intrigued by their enduring appeal, evidenced by the fans seemingly glued to the barrier at the front of the stage to secure their place within touching distance of their hero. They knew what was coming.
The throng included a young man with an unmistakable haircut. The baby Brett had also copied the wardrobe: skinny jeans, a charity shop shirt and boots.
Would the man himself measure up? He has described the band’s next album as a departure from the “arrogance of youth” and “the fragility of being middle-aged”, and fans would get a preview later with the track Antidepressants.
As he strode onto the stage, still whippet-thin, there was no sign that 30 years in the business had blunted his performance. The moves were as sharp as the cheekbones.
The angles continued as he stole the spotlight, throwing shapes in a series of striking silhouettes. If I were an artist, I’d frame them and sell them in a series entitled “How To Be A Britpop God”.
As he flings himself into the crowd, climbing over the barrier to embrace his fans, I’m shocked and a little scared to realise I was born in the same year.
For a brief moment, I worry that his tight trousers will not withstand the clamber back to the stage, but he bounces back, barely breaking sweat.
He will commune with the crowd repeatedly in a stonking show featuring all the hits and more.
All around me, 50-somethings are dancing like no one’s watching – and they aren’t. Everyone is focused on Brett. That might seem a little unfair to the rest of the band, who are all superb musicians, but they’ve had three decades to get used to it.
Part of the attraction of the Audley End concerts is the chance to see big names in a grand setting. It’s a great night out. But sometimes, to be brutally honest, it feels like some of the acts are just going through the motions and topping up their pension pots.
It could be argued that Suede, Johnny Marr and Nadine Shah are no longer at the peak of their popularity, but they are most definitely not past their best.
It was the most energetic performance by a headliner at Heritage Live I’ve seen in the best part of 20 years and the most enjoyable support acts. Marr and his guitar were worth the price of a ticket. If you weren’t part of the audience, you missed out.
The campaign for Pulp 2025 begins now.
