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Suede. The best concert I have ever been to

Occasionally things fall into place and the opportunity to go to Amsterdam for a weekend and see Suede in the Paradiso was aligned. The Paradiso is  an old church in the centre of amsterdam near Leidseplein and functions as a concert venue and also a nightclub/disco. Perhaps it holds 1500 in the main hall.  Not so large. But large enough for artists like Lady Gaga to have played there in 2009 .Glen Matlock played his last gig with The Sex Pistols at the Paradiso..

On May 26–27, 1995, The Rolling Stones played two semi-acoustic concerts at the Paradiso. Scalped tickets reportedly sold for many thousands of dollars. Keith Richards said that the Paradiso concerts were the best live shows the Stones ever did. Having seen Suede I can imagine that can be true. The atmosphere there is electric and yet one is not too far from the stage and oddly not too crowded.

Wikipaedia lists a long list of bands who have played there. Try this  “Other acts who played in Paradiso include Level 42, George Clinton & the Parliament-Funkadelic, The Fixx, Florence and the Machine, Patrick Wolf,Within Temptation, Adele, Garbage, The Gathering, Nine Inch Nails,Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arctic Monkeys, Europe, Radiohead, Stereophonics, Prince,UB40, Guns N’ Roses, David Bowie, Thirty Seconds to Mars, The Police, Rob Eberhard Young, The Velvet Underground, Rollins Band, Golden Earring, Herman Brood, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dr. John, Muse,Rory Gallagher, Foo Fighters, Fugazi, Curve, U2, Pearl Jam, Lana Del Rey, Burning Spear, Simple Minds, Ramones, Cocteau Twins, Human League, Autechre, Orbital, Plaid, The Tragically Hip, Metallica, Faith No More, Faithless, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles, Primus, Tool, The Pretty Things, Tracy Chapman, Captain Beefheart, The Jam, Coldplay, Billy Idol, Keane, Robbie Williams, Emilíana Torrini,Eels, “Weird Al” Yankovic, The Real McKenzies, Patti Smith, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Errorism, Todd Rundgren, My Morning Jacket, Phish, Adele,OFWGKTA and Prince, Foals”. Indeed I saw myself Robbie Williams there over 10 years ago.

 Wikipaedia tells us ” It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the “Vrije Gemeente” (Free Congregation)”. There was no evidence of any religious congregation last saturday when Suede played the last night of their european tour. 

Suede are not a new band and were around from 1989 and disbanding in 2003 and reforming in 2010. Many of their songs are well known without people knowing it is Suede.

The concert cannot be captured in words. The energy of the whole band was unique, Brett Anderson, singer, sang some songs sitting on the edge of the stage, others whilst walking through the crowd but mostly at a high tempo on stage. A magical evening and a magical concert. The ending came too soon but not without the band playing songs which never made it onto an album. The question is why not? The real reason why this band are so good is that they do not take their audience for granted. They have no airs and graces. They thank the fans genuinely for coming. But it is a band and the whole band are visual and entertain and most importantly enjoy themselves.