Former Suede frontman Brett Anderson has unveiled his new solo album, “Wilderness,” at an intimate London gig.
The Monday night (July 7) Mermaid Theatre show was in two parts, the first showcasing the new album with Anderson seated at a grand piano and accompanied only by a cellist for torch songs like “A Different Place,” “Chinese Whispers” and “Knife Edge”.
Anderson was joined on stage by French actress/singer Emmanuelle Seigner, star of “La Vie en Rose” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” for a duet on “Back to You” and also played guitar on two songs, “Clowns” and “Funeral Mantra.”
After an interval, Anderson returned in more relaxed mood, inviting the crowd to “raise the temperature and sing along” to a set of Suede classics and tracks from his debut solo album. Highlights included Britpop anthems “Saturday Night,” “So Young” and “The Wild Ones” alongside rarely heard ballads “Pantomime Horse,” “Still Life” and “The Living Dead.” Seigner returned for a duet of one of her own songs, “Simple Words.”
Anderson also performed a suite of Suede songs at the piano, joking that the medley of tracks — including “By the Sea,” “The Power,” “He’s Gone,” “The Two of Us” and “The Asphalt World” — was his “version of the second side of [The Beatles’] ‘Abbey Road.'”
He later took requests from the audience, before ending on a triumphant version of Suede anthem “Trash.” The band — known as the London Suede in the United States — were one of the biggest alternative rock bands in the U.K. during the 1990s.
“Wilderness” — Anderson’s sophomore solo set after his 2007 self-titled debut — is due for a digital release on July 29, with a physical release through independent stores only on Aug. 4, before its general release on Sept. 1. Fans attending the show received a USB stick containing the album as part of the ticket price.
