ShareSupergrass performing their I Should Coco 30th Anniversary Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Saturday 10th May 2025.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
It takes a brave band to play a 30th anniversary tour in front of images depicting them as teenagers but then watching Supergrass on their stop at Rock City on Saturday night celebrating their 1995 album, I Should Coco, it seems that they haven’t changed a bit.
Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn, Danny Goffey still sport the bristly sideburns and the youthful exuberance that made them everyone’s favourite throughout the Britpop era. Now a four piece they launched into I Should Coco’s blistering opening salvo of I’d Like To Know, Caught By The Fuzz, along with the terrific strut of Mansize Rooster as if their lives depended on it.
With the summertime charm of Alright sparking delirium from both young and old, there was a danger that their set would peak too soon, because all four tracks could easily have fitted into the encore. So fireworks were expected from start to finish and Supergrass did not disappoint. The key to the night was that the whole album holds up really well such as the barrelling rocker Lose It.
Songs like Lenny and Strange Ones reminded the crowd of the youthful exuberance of the band’s early sound that made them such a fixture on the mid 1990’s British scene. Sitting Up Straight nearly took the roof off as did She’s So Loose.
The crowd tried to keep up as bassist Mick Quinn effortlessly hit all those impossibly high notes. Rob Coombes provided those distinctive organ flourishes as Danny Goffey piled into his drum kit with typical enthusiasm whilst Gaz remained a commanding guitarist and front man, a rock ‘n’ roll singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band.
Both We’re Not Supposed To and Time found the crowd serenading each other, and the trippy Psychedelia of Sofa (Of My Lethargy) was very well received. Supergrass brought this side of their gig to a close with the album closer, the jaunty acoustic Kinks-esqe Time To Go and ends with the band arms around each other’s shoulders lapping up the applause.
I Should Coco was Parlophone Record’s best selling debut album for the label since The Beatles Please Please Me, and from this concert it was easy to see why.
The riff to Richard III ignited the crowd as Supergrass came back to remind everyone that the hits didn’t stop there. Seen The Crowd was followed by indie classics the dark irresistible groove of Mary, Moving and main set closer the perfect pop of Grace.
For the encore there was the beautiful rush of Sun Hits The Sky and a thoroughly triumphant Pumping On Your Stereo. Saturday’s performance felt like a well deserved celebration of both band and album showing that Supergrass rightly deserve their place in the pantheon of great British bands.
