Choppers Down Brighton Promenade! I Should Coco! Supergrass Rock Chalk, Brighton!

If you were around in 1995 and you were one of the cool crowd, then you listened to Supergrass, they were vital, catchy as hell, proper good-looking in an edgy, side-burn wearing cheeky chappy kind of way and everybody loved them! They were the soundtrack of the Summer and music that everyone partied too! They were hotter than hot and injected a much needed excitement into the UK music scene with their cutting edge impossibly fun sound and their edgy 70’s style!

It seems insane to think that it’s thirty years since the Oxford rockers exploded onto the music scene with their incredible debut album, ‘I Should Coco’ which skyrocketed to the top of the charts seemingly overnight and catapulted the chopper riding flare wearing mischievous boys into superstardom, but tonight at the rammed Chalk in Brighton, it was like they’d never been away as their ecstatic fans were treated to the every one of the incredible tracks off of the groundbreaking debut album for the first time ever!!

Tonight was the hot ticket that everyone was desperate to get their hands on! I think the fact that Supergrass are booked to play three nights at the cavernous Roundhouse later in their hotly anticipated tour speaks volumes about just how popular this band still are and gives you perhaps just a hint of the excitement radiating through the venue tonight!

Support was from the incredible ‘The Sixx’. Handpicked by Supergrass for the show tonight and playing their second ever live show, they certainly proved that they deserved their place on the stage tonight! A band undoubtedly on the way to very big things, it’s no surprise that Supergrass snapped them up and they certainly gained a few extra fans at the gig tonight.

Brighton’s Chalk can sometimes swallow up a support act and could have been intimidating for a band in their infancy, but on Friday night as they strode onto the stage rather early at a mere 7:21pm to a full house, The Sixx instantly shrank the cavernous room to one of club‑size intimacy. Front‑woman Maxine Talulah, tambourine aloft like a flare, marshalled the five‑piece through a taut 33‑minute set that felt more like a victory lap than an audition.

Their opening track ‘Time To Shine’ with its crunching guitars rubbed against a glossy Hammond swell as Talulah’s smoky alto filled the room. The song’s swagger announced a band far removed from polite Americana expectations, think Tom Petty road‑worthiness spiked with the nervy snap of early Blondie. Follow‑up ‘Save Your Tears’ tightened the screws further, Marty Love’s rim‑shots and Calle Engelmark’s wiry riffs nodding to Bowie’s Lodger years while the chorus flew sky‑high.

Mid‑set,’You Don’t Know’ planted an earworm the size of the Palace Pier, its call‑and‑response refrain prompting punters who’d wandered in moments earlier to punch the air by the second chorus. Only ‘Have Faith in Me’ dialled the throttle back, offering a breather of melancholy before the engine re‑ignited with the proto‑punk stomp of ‘Where Did You Go’. Throughout, Ricky McGuire’s melodic bass and David Blackman’s dual‑Roland arsenal anchored the arrangements with a professionalism that never felt clinical, keeping the adrenaline high even in the quieter passages.

The highlight arriproto‑punk  ‘Roots’, introduced by Talulah with the rallying cry ‘never forget where you come from’ unfurled on a muscular McGuire intro and wah‑soaked chords, evoking The Jam in widescreen. By the time, the band played,  ‘What Were You Thinking’ the initially curious crowd had become a sea of bobbing heads, rewarding the band with a roar usually reserved for headliners.

The enthusiastic Brighton crowd will get another chance to see The Sixx when the quintet returns on 12th October for a Sunday matinee at The Prince Albert; book early, because after tonight they may soon outgrow it. Supergrass would later deliver their own nostalgia‑steeped triumph, but The Sixx left having created fresh memories of their own. For a group barely six months old, their chemistry already feels road‑tested, their hooks stadium‑ready, and their trajectory sharply upward. Catch them now—while the venues are still small enough for the sweat to bounce off the ceiling and every chorus to feel like it was written just for you.

By the time Supergrass took to the stage to the sounds of ‘The Sweet’ track, ‘Blockbuster’ before detonating into their mind-blowing opening track, the dynamic ‘I’d Like to Know’ from ‘I Should Coco’ with Danny’s unmistakable drum intro, the audience were a mass of heaving dancing bodies, all reliving the best years of their lives! If you closed your eyes, it was like you were straight back in those carefree days of 1995!! Now, it’s 30 years those hedonistic days and you could forgive Supergrass for perhaps having slowed down a bit and having settled into a slightly slower pace, but they were having none of it!! Far from it!! Gaz still had the same soif de vivre that he’s always had and the band were tighter and more calescent than ever! This was the kind of gig that the saying, “Dance like no one is watching’ was made for, for everywhere you looked, their were hands held aloft, people bouncing and dancing their socks off, singing along at the top of their lungs to their favourite tracks! Supergrass had done the impossible, delivering a night of pure and unadulterated escapism and impossibly fabulous music!

Their set was a stunningly blended mix of their much loved hits from ‘I Should Coco’ with some of their later material! It was one of those nights that you wanted to last forever, musically stunning, sheer unadulterated joy delivered at the usual supercharged speed for which Supergrass are so well known and loved! A decadent bliss drenched rollercoaster of musical genius! And there were unexpected moments too, like when the band got their guitar tech on stage to guest on the stunning ‘Sofa (of My Lethargy)’, making them instantly more loveable than ever! If that’s even possible!

Whilst the whole night was pitch yourself incredible, the best part of the set was without a doubt their dazzling encore! Starting with the exhilarating ‘Moving’ which created a pogoing frenzy and ending in the high-octane ‘Pumping On Your Stereo’! Gaz’s voice was edgy as fuck and the dynamic between him and the rest of the band was one of absolute warmth and perfectionism! They are a band who clearly love to play together and it really showed. And it was absolutely crystal clear, that this band love their fans and the feeling is most definitely mutual!!

Supergrass are one of those bands that have been done the seemingly impossible, they have gone away and somehow returned a hotter, more dynamic and better band than ever! If Peter Pan was cool, formed a band and played music so catchy, it was impossible not to dance and sing along at the top your lungs too, that band would be Supergrass!

To connect with the band and to get tickets for future tour dates, visit www.supergrass.com

Supergrass:

Gaz Coombes – lead vocals, electric & acoustic guitars
Mick Quinn – bass, guitar, backing and lead vocals
Danny Goffey – drums, percussion, bass guitar
Rob Coombes – keyboards, piano

Photos of Supergrass

Supergrass Setlist:

I’d  Like to Know
Caught by the Fuzz
Mansize Rooster
Alright
Lose It
Lenny
Strange Ones
Sitting Up Straight
She’s So Loose
We’re Not Supposed To
Time
Sofa (of My Lethargy)
Time To Go

Encore:
Moving
Richard III
Late in the Day
Sun Hits the Sky
Pumping on Your Stereo

Photos of The Sixx

To connect to the band visit https://www.thesixx.co.uk/

The Sixx:

Maxine Talulah – lead vocals & tambourine
Marty Love – drums
Ricky Mcguire – bass
David Blackman – keyboards
Calle Engelmark – guitar & vocals

The Sixx setlist:

Time To Shine
Save Your Tears
You Don’t Know
Have Faith In Me
Where Did You Go
This Is Who We Are
Roots
What Were You Thinking

All photos are owned by Louise Phillips Music Photography and cannot be shared without consent