Paraorchestra with Brett Anderson & Charles Hazlewood – a concert about death bursting with life
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A giant funeral card was projected at the London Roundhouse, displaying the ominous words “Death Songbook”. Stick thin, foppish-haired and dressed with his usual stylish flair (any colour as long as its black), Brett Anderson of Suede walked to the front of a stage occupied by 10 seated classical musicians. “These songs are all based around the theme of death and loss,” he gravely announced.
“Whooh!” yelped a woman’s voice from the audience, inspiring a tension shattering burst of laughter. A grin spread across the frontman’s face even as he and the Paraorchestra launched into a gloriously grandiose yet fragile version of Echo and the Bunnymen’s 1984 single Killing Moon.
This was a fantastic concert, rich and strange and alive to the moment, bringing a set of very intense, mournful songs to vivid life with off-beat arrangements and committed vocals. The bar was set high by a spookily mesmeric version of She Stills Leads Me On, from Suede’s most recent album, 2022’s Autofiction. It is a song Anderson introduced as being about his mother, who died in the early 1990s just as his band were making the first steps towards fame. “I loved her with my last breath,” he crooned, bending forward, delivering the beautiful lyric with keening intensity.
The musicians stirred up a fairground sound around leader Charles Haywood’s distorting organ, with sawing viola and cello, plucked double bass, skittery jazz drums and a tinkling metallophone all topped off with the folky piping of a recorder and flute. Rock and roll this was not. Still Anderson, unable to shake off decades leading a powerful guitar band, waved his arms as if urging the audience out of their seats. Death and Loss! Wooh!
The Paraorchestra was formed by Charles Hazlewood in 2011 as a platform for disabled musicians. “Over 20 per cent of the UK population identify as disabled,” he explained. “That’s a hell of a talent pool.” The orchestra has over 50 members but the minimal unit Hazlewood led at the intimately staged In The Round festival brought a Weimar cabaret decadence to a set of songs grappling with this biggest of subjects from interesting angles.
Cornish singer Gwenno joined Anderson for a lush duet of 1962 pop standard The End of the World. Electro goth star Nadine Shah came on for a transcendently beautiful version of Mercury Rev’s Holes, her low commanding tones elegantly set against Anderson’s soft, high notes. All three then made a cheerful hash of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence, jettisoning the threatening ambience of the original for a kind of shambolic campfire singalong. Yet even as the song collapsed, the moment felt full of spirit and connection, the musicians joining in with the audience’s laughter. It was that kind of occasion, sublime, ridiculous, a concert about death absolutely bursting with life.
A standing ovation led them back for an unplanned encore of Killing Moon, the song they began with. “It’s a lot of work to arrange everything for an orchestra,” Anderson apologised. “Not like four blokes with guitars in a rehearsal room.” A forgiving audience rushed the stage, loudly singing along, not something you often witness at an orchestral concert. This was a brave and triumphant venture for the Britpop veteran, a bold demonstration of a range and artistry that bodes well for Suede’s future.
Anderson and the Paraorchestra perform at Manchester’s Aviva Studio tomorrow. Accompanying album Death Songbook is out now on BMG
