Blog ≫ 2025 ≫ Great day out, with Suede
Had a GREAT day out yesterday, ending up with seeing Suede at Royal Festival Hall. We did not have a day out with Suede, in case that was not clear.
Started early, skipped parkrun, got the 9am train. It's busy. I know there's football on today, and also Last Night Of The Proms, but does that really explain the people draped in flags..? Something's going on (and writing this up a day later I now know what it was. Last Night Of The Pricks more like.
We went straight to Urban Outfitters in Covent Garden to get one of the boys some clothes and while he was browsing I took the other boy round shops looking for Pokemon cards. Orcs Nest don't do them but Forbidden Planet had some. They were rationing us to two packets, so that saved me a few quid. Got back to Urban Outfitters and other boy had run up quite a bill. It was a reward for trying so hard in his exams, so all good.
From there to South Kensington for a university open day. Got him registered there and left him at his first lecture, how exciting! We made plans to meet up again after and then the three of us went to The Queens Arms for a little sit down. Two pints of good real ale for me, some hazy IPA for the wife and some diet cokes, beef crocquettes, and chips for the boy. Then when we were rested enough on to The Science Museum where we had a booking for their Level Up gaming exhibition. This is brilliant, he could play all the old games he watches other people on youtube play, and so could we! I played Chuckie Egg on a BBC micro, and also on a Vectrex, an Amiga, a Nintendo Wii, Sega Megadrive, and plenty more. This is a great value exhibition. You can play all day for a tenner, and all year for eighteen quid. Imagine of T1 did end up at this university here (Imperial) he could be in there every day. We also went briefly through the Science Museum itself, though have done this many times. We got lots of birthday and christmas present ideas in the shop there.
While we were in there we got a call from the restaurant we'd booked near Royal Festival Hall to say they were closing because of the threat of trouble of this far right rally in the area, so we hastily found somewhere else. Then collected T1 again from his second lecture and headed to the new place. We stayed in Kensington to make sure we were out of the way of any trouble, so ate in Rocca. Nice Italian, actually Italian people in there. Had a good dinner, though there wasn't quite as much for me as on the other one we'd booked, but still good. Loads of food, and not expensive for London, about a hundred quid all in.
Next to the tube, back on the Picadilly line. T1 and I got off and changed for Embankment, wife and T2 carrid on to St Pancras and home. But we had Suede to go to!
Met up with friends in the bar before the gig, and that was initially complicated but then very civilised. There are several bars in there, they weren't in the one they thought they were. Obviously filled up with Suede fans, and I have noticed they don't mind wearing the t-shirt of the band you have come to see at the gig. I thought there was a rule you wear another complementary band t-shirt? My Def Leppard / Motley Crue number got many admiring glances and at least one conversation started.
Gig was all seated but it's a great venue for that, nicely banked seats so everyone can see.
We went in for the support band, as it's one of T1's first gigs, and I know I always would have done. So glad I did, Bloodworm were awesome. They're a young three piece from Nottingham, but they sound very 1980s. Lots of sounds like The Cure, The Cult, Bauhaus, Joy Division, I loved it. It might just be that all my reference points are from the 1980s and they actually sound more like other bands I've not heard of. Anyway enjoyed very much.
Quick interval drink then back to seats for Suede, who were also great!
Setlist:
- Disintegrate
- Dancing with the Europeans
- Antidepressants
- Personality Disorder
- Trash
- Animal Nitrate
- Killing of a Flashboy
- It Starts and Ends With You
- June Rain
- Outsiders
- Crackhead
- Sweet Kid
- Life Is Golden
- She Still Leads Me On
- Shadow Self
- The Sound and the Summer
- Criminal Ways
- Trance State
- This Time
- So Young
- Metal Mickey
- Beautiful Ones
- The Only Way I Can Love You (encore)
I started adding this to https://setlist.fm myself but I had been superceded before the end.
When they started with Disintegrate I said to T1 sorry I don't know this one, and he said yes you do I've heard you play it. Those first three are off the new album, then Brett said "Shall we do an old one?" to a great response... and then they played Personality Disorder. Off the previous album, 2022. I thought oh, this is how it's going to go, they are denying their legacy and only want to play new songs. Then they followed that with Trash, their hit pop single from 1996. Then, as you can see from the set list, two more old once. They would come back to an awesome ending of So Young, Metal Mickey, and a whole lot of la-la-la-la-ing for The Beautiful Ones which seemed to go on for ages.
The new songs were very good too, the new album is good, and seeing them play it live helps me appreciate it more.
Some other notes from the set, Brett mentioned Sweet Kid is about his son, and that he couldn't be bothered to be there, he preferred to play rugby. Then Life Is Golden was dedicated to his wife who was in attendence. This all felt a bit odd, he is the andogenous singer of the best new band in Britain, he's too young to have a wife and a rugby playing son surely? And then when they played This Time it was just Brett and Neil on keyboards, and then Brett went off mic and just sang it to the crowd unaccompanied, that was really good. To follow that up with the three off the first album was awesome.
We got the tube back to St Pancras and an elevenish train home no problem. No more of the flag waving loons on our train, though wife said their was on hers and it was really quite unpleasant. Being in a big group of racists had emboldened them to talk loudly about their racist conspiracy theories all the way home. I hope this passes again, but it is getting a bit concerning. What the hell is Elon Musk doing appearing by video link at a far right rally in London calling for violence?? Anyway, can't let that spoil what was a brilliant day.
Light rain and a fresh breeze, 14 - 17℃.
💬 Suede