The Love Song of Brett Anderson

Brett Anderson @ Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center 14.08.07

"Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit."

do you know what i mean? do you feel what i feel? the ambivalence inside.

I don't know if Jarvis Cocker will still sing the songs of his old band in his own concert, dance the same dance and strike the same pose. Brett Anderson would/will. Performing his "snake dance" during Everything Will Flow, clapping and jumping during Beautiful Ones, swinging his mic like a lasso, time and space have been mixed up if this is the year of 1995, 1999 or 2007. No. I shouldn't have such confusion. I know it too well that this is 2007, with brett unusually wrinkled.

"I grow old ... I grow old
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled"

This is for brett, and to be fair, for us too. we are at least 10 years older from the days when we were so young and listened to so young. Anthemic songs, nostalgic us, we and brett pretended that nothing has changed. Screamed and shouted for every suede's songs. It pained me to see the uncontrollable smile and the glow in his eyes whenever the crowd went crazy for any suede song. It reminds me of the Leeds Festival in 2005 which The Tears was the headliner next to Babyshambles (felt so chuffed), not surprisingly, half the tent had gone away after Babyshambles (felt so gutted). I can't help thinking if brett can only get such love and frenzy in Hong Kong only. Of course I was also the one who sang along and screamed a lot, not that i felt so nostalgic to have my solid gold karaoke, "ah - whatever makes you happy", i was pleased to do whatever made brett happy.

"Music & Lyrics" - it's a bit harsh to think of the movie, though you can't help it.

"Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'—
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: 'That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all.'”

No, that is not what I meant to associate the comedy with my beloved Mr Anderson. "That is not it, at all". I believe brett was also not meant to only drown in the past glory. Albeit the market and the critics both (unfairly) gave a cold shoulder to brett's solo album, to me it is very poignant and beautiful. Obviously those suede songs were crowd-pleasing but what I looking for was his new songs. The night was opened by the intro of More We Possess The Less We Own Of Ourselves (but sadly he didn't sing it), then followed by To The Winter. After the triumphant and anthemic By The Sea, the atmosphere suddenly turned beautifully bleak. That is my most favourite track, Colour of the Night. Yes, Brett has come back tell you all, his music is still brilliant. It is not Brett who does not move on. It is us the ones who drown only in the past glory of suede, in love only with the pretty fresh-faced brett, now close the ears and hearts, and refuse to accept the withered flower.


"but nobody saw any beauty in me"

note 1: i don't know why but people including me like to compare jarvis with brett, maybe they are both so english, so slim and tall, so 90's, but sadly only jarvis can survive.

note 2: i have recorded some tracks of the concert and intended to place them on You Tube, but not aware that most of the time i sang along with the songs, really ridiculous and horrible, i destroyed the whole beauty, so i decide to keep the clips to myself.