Live Review: Supergrass

Manchester Academy, 9th June

In April this year, Supergrass announced that - after 17 years together - their upcoming mini-tour would be their last. Having been familiar with the band since their Britpop heyday, never getting a chance to see them live would be a personal tragedy; a childhood desire unfulfilled.

Needless to say, on the morning of the 12th of April - in a panicked, nostalgia-ridden state - I hastily bought tickets to see Supergrass.

The gig itself ran around an interesting format. Rather than jumble up a setlist of past hits, spend 90 minutes blasting them out and then return for the obligatory encore, the songs were arranged into sections based on each individual album. Video montages were projected onto the screen at the back of the stage, serving the purpose of summarising each of these albums. Starting with Diamond Hoo Ha and working backwards to I Should Coco, the band would come back onstage after each short clip and play the singles from the LP in question. Not a bad way to order your final gigs!

After a frenetic opening set of songs including Rebel in You, Diamond Hoo Ha Man and Bad Blood (all from their latest release), the gig hit something of an early low when the singles from 2005's lacklustre Road to Rouen were played out. I suppose it was necessary to feature them to keep the gig's retrospective continuity intact, but in hindsight it was a really boring twenty minutes.

Things really picked up after the Rouen-induced lull though, with belters such as Seen the Light, Grace, Mary, Moving and the ever-anthemic Pumping on Your Stereo each getting their deserved star turns alongside other singles. As the gig increased in pace - the likes of Blockheads-esque Cheapskate, Sun Hits the Sky and personal favourite Richard III helping to add to the frenetic atmosphere - there was a timely break in pace in the form of mass-singalong Late in the Day.

Ultimately, though, everyone had been waiting to hear the songs from 1995's I Should Coco - an album which still stands up as one of the best of that initial Britpop period, easily ranking alongside anything mustered by colossuses Suede, Blur and Pulp. Even as the pre-Coco montage played through the projector, the punters couldn't resist bellowing along to some snippets of the lesser-known tracks on the album, in sheer jubilant expectancy.

Once the band took to the stage again, things got a bit manic. Lose It, Lenny and I'd Like to Know were followed by penultimate song Alright. After a brief exodus, the band returned to perform an encore of modern pop-punk masterpiece Caught by the Fuzz, rounding a very solid gig (and career) off in extremely strong fashion.

They'll be missed.

Greg.

n.b. Big respect to The Coral, who gave a great support performance in spite the cries of "Wirral! Wirral!" from one idiot in the crowd.