Torpes in the UK: Brett Anderson + The Cold One Hundred (11th October 2011) Location: Manchester Academy Club, Manchester, UK

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Brett Anderson + The Cold One Hundred (11th October 2011)
Location: Manchester Academy Club, Manchester, UK

It was another incredible night out for a live show, and this time offered by one of the best performers of my generation, if not the best of them all.

Brett Anderson is basically a stage animal and he puts loads of younger singers to shame with his performances on stage.

But before Brett Anderson’s gig, we checked out his supporting band, The Cold One Hundred.

The Cold One Hundred

Never heard anything from this Manchester based band until the moment they started playing and it was a good surprise. A combination between good players and a charismatic singer (a mixture between Jarvis Cocker, Morrissey and Brandon Flowers) are just enough to make their indie-rock songs interesting enough and worth a listening.

The Smiths and Morrissey’s influences are all there in plain sight, but the band has the wisdom of writing songs that are without any doubt pop but with substance enough not to be reminded just as another band who wants to be The Smiths.

This gig has shown that, given space to develop, these lads will find themselves performing to bigger audiences in the near future.

The Cold One Hundred website: http://thecoldonehundred.com/
The Cold One Hundred myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thecoldonehundred
The Cold One Hundred facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thecoldonehundred

Brett Anderson

Truth has to be said: I’d never seen someone deliver so much in a gig.

After his previous melodic and quite solo albums, Brett decided it was time for something more up-tempo and the new one “Black Rainbows” is the closest he ever got to the Suede albums in his solo career.
And by the look of it, Brett was eager to get his show on the road, once again with a supporting band instead of just him and a piano.

There was no time for nostalgia, and none of the Suede’s songs were revisited on this show. This was about Brett’s solo career and not his iconic and worldwide famous band.

The gig started with the song “Unsung”, which is also the first song on the new album’s line up, and it was an impressive start to the night.

Around the fourth song, “Actors”, the set just begins to sound better and better and seems somehow to be getting louder as Anderson gets sweatier and sweatier, for the pleasure of the female crowd. The years don’t seem to have cooled Anderson much as he goes through the whole “Black Rainbows” album with an energy that would make musicians half his age feel ashamed, and I’m reminded of what a brilliant front man he is and always have been.

This was followed with some other amazing songs like “The Hunted” (beautiful song indeed) or ”The Empress”. “This Must Be Where It Ends” was one of the highlights of the show with its weeping guitar riff (sorry about the poor sound quality on the video below).

Brett Anderson - This Must Be Where It Ends (live Club Academy, Manchester, 11-10-2011)

During “Thin Men Dancing”, the singer jumping onto and balancing himself on the venue’s PA equipment as he sings out the catchy chorus line: “Are we like shadows, we’ll be like shadows”.

The last song of the set was Anderson’s latest single “Brittle Heart” which really got the crowd moving.

Brett Anderson - Brittle Heart (live Club Academy, Manchester, 11-10-2011)

After a short break the band were back for an encore with Anderson behind the piano.

Despite announcing: “You will now lose all respect for me as a musician as I try to play,” he flawlessly played through the encore which included the superb “A Different Place”. The concert ended with a noisy, chaotic finale in the form of “Funeral Mantra” from the album “Wilderness”.

Amazing gig by an amazing singer/performer backed up by brilliant musicians. This was a night to remember, for sure.