There were no bands quite like Supergrass, in 1995. At least, not our writer's hazy recollection. They stood out; slightly apart from their contemporaries. Off to the side seemingly having just that little bit more fun than anyone else. On the evidence of this riotous, rollocking show at Rock City, the same is just as true in 2025...
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut I Should Coco (Cockney rhyming slang for "I should think so," fact fans), Supergrass are a band able to roll back the intervening three decades and transport you back to the nineties, such is the force of their music that absolutely stands the test of time.
Opening tonight with the frenetic, chaotic I’d Like to Know, the band’s ageless energy is on full display from the off. “I’d like to go where all the strange ones go” belted out; as if an invitation for Rock City to meet the group on the wavelength they reside; one which the venue is more than happy to accept.
The main bulk of the set is a shake-down of the aforementioned album, in its original running order. Caught By The Fuzz pulsates with and enhances the strutting energy of its recorded version; guitars blasting out and washing over the excellent crowd. Mansize Rooster comes next, off-kilter and bouncy, coaxing out the cheekier side of Gaz Coombes’ irrepressible energy.
The opening chords of Alright are surely instantly recognisable to anyone of a certain vintage in the UK. A bonafide classic, its unrelenting pep is infectious and irresistible, prompting a mass boogie; shoulders shifting along to the surfy guitars and throats hoarse with belting out the chorus. It’s an early highpoint, and a truly ecstatic moment.
Not that there needs to be a dip, tonight. Onwards through I Should Coco the band plough. They seem thrilled to be re-litigating these songs a generation later, bringing ever more to them, still able to infuse them with the verve and combustion that must have so thrilled audiences back in the day.
Even on the album, Lenny sounds as though it’s being played on fast-forward, such is the pace of the drumming and the wild ferocity of the guitars. Tonight, it’s an easy highlight, the punchy distortion in the guitars exhilarating the crowd.
On and on it goes, played with all the charm and humour you could hope for. Coombes himself is in fine form, his voice running the gamut from cheeky chappy to snarling rock star deftly. Musically, they’re tight and forthright, really wringing the necks of their respective instruments.
Time To Go closes out the songs from I Should Coco, by a hair the shortest song on the LP, it’s sweetly strummed guitar and lyrics suggesting "Now it’s time to go" being happily inaccurate in this case. This little reset gives way to Richard III, another big hitter and undeniable belter, from 1997’s In It For The Money. The guitar riff lifts the roof – already clinging on by its fingernails – clean off.
The main set closes with Grace, sweetly dedicated to a couple in the audience and ending with a wall of applause whisking the band off stage, before they return for the one-two punch of Sun Hits the Sky and Pumping On Your Stereo. The latter is received with one of the loudest cheers as it erupts, the vocals recalling Mick Jagger at his swaggering best as the bridge gives way to the pure release of joy that is its chorus refrain: "Can you hear us, pumping on your stereo?"
It’s hard not to be completely swept away by it all; the grins and the waving arms and the wide eyes of the crowd. And as the band take their final leave, a quick glance around the happily tired bodies of the crowd spilling out onto Talbot Street throws up the surely unanimous consensus: Supergrass still very much have it, and remain a beloved presence in Britain’s uniquely rich musical history. 30 years on, they continue to represent that slightly more eccentric, slightly sillier side beautifully.
Supergrass performed at Rock City on 10th May 2025.
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