THE Great Hall was packed with people, and more arriving as the band were due on at 9pm.

The venue was running at capacity and there was a general buzz of excitement, with Suede fans and lovers getting to see the band live, in a good near-stage view for everyone.

The band opted for a gothic dark lighting, with misty smoke and low lighting.

With a hailed entrance onstage, Brett Anderson dramatically pronounced himself on stage.

As they opened with As One, the only white lights on the stage were on Anderson Brett as he majestically moved and swung across the stage.

A lot of girl fans were screaming his name as he soulfully walked around the front of the stage. To roof-raising applause and cheers, the band moved into My Insatiable One.

Anderson launched himself onto the monitors and then leaned in, singing with an adoring crowd singing along with him. The rest of the band played with an accompanied precision, sometimes emerging from the mist, into pockets of light.

During Outsiders, Anderson flipped his corded microphone and proceeded to use it like a bullwhip across the distance of half the stage, with an accuracy, avoiding his band mates, that would put even Indiana Jones to shame.

This melodic, poetic and then highly adrenalised show continued – with the audience, staff and everyone in the house applauding between songs – with We Are The Pigs, Metal Mickey, New Generation, She’s Not Dead, then an acoustic performance of Stay Together by Richard Oakes and Brett Anderson.

These were followed with other popular songs including The Drowners, Trash and many others, before an encore of The Beautiful Ones and Life Is Golden.

Notably gaining an early success in 1992, before being signed to a major label, Suede eventually gained backing by Sony, through an independent label.

They then shot to mainstream stardom with Animal Nitrate in the UK’s top ten singles, bolstering it up with a continued stream of big-selling albums, singles and performances, until 2003, resulting in before a break up.

After a reunion in 2010, they released a further three albums, and have been touring ever since.

Jeff Oram