Supergrass
Supergrass
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All I can say is Eddie Vedder and company better be at the top of their game this fall. That’s because Pearl Jam has selected Oxford, England’s Supergrass as one of their opening acts for a North American tour. If this Supergrass headline gig is any indication, they’ll be a tough act to follow.

Opening with an intense "Richard III" from 1997’s In It For the Money and the bouncy "Strange Ones" from their 1995 debut I Should Coco, the band displayed the punky roar that defines their early work.

But up next were two songs from their latest self-titled release which showed the band’s versatility: the electric piano-driven "Mary" and "Moving" which starts dreamy and then gets funky. Singer-guitarist Gaz Coombes, sporting a buzz cut instead of his familiar shag and muttonchops, ripped off a terrific guitar solo during the latter. Bassist Mickey Quinn sounded like a tuneless Dave Davies, barking out the lyrics on the Kinks-like "Jesus Came From Outta Space." He later provided the zooming, frenetic bass part on "Sun Hits the Sky." Coombes’ big brother Robert, who is an unofficial Supergrasser, provided the bouncy piano for "Alright" and generally helped the trio achieve a rich sound on their newer, more ambitious songs. And drummer Danny Goffey pounded the skins hard, putting his arms and legs into every song.

Songs like the insidiously catchy "Pumping On Your Stereo" and the hook-y pop song "Time" were all about their monster riffs performed live. Newer songs were infused with the same punky energy as the older material. And as the band’s set wound down, every song seemed to crank up the energy another notch. The Pink Floyd-like "Faraway" sported an expansive, soaring chorus. And the set closing "Going Out" from In It For the Money threatened to take the roof off the club.

For the encore, the band turned in a pumping version of "Lenny" and a pounding "Caught By the Fuzz" from the debut before living up to the punk aesthetic by getting off the stage in just a little over an hour.

The only disappointment other than a few unplayed gems from the Supergrass catalogue was that there was little onstage banter. A couple of obligatory "thank yous" and a "how you doing" was about all we got. On their albums, Supergrass is a band full of cheeky personality. It would have been nice to have seen some of that on display. The band members didn’t seem to interact amongst themselves much either, which made it even more remarkable that they were able to nail all those tempo shifts in songs like "Late In the Day." I guess they preferred to let the music speak for itself. Fortunately, it had energy and personality to spare. Yep, Eddie and the boys better be ready to put on one heck of a show.

Openers Lokomotiv are a band from Oslo, Norway that definitely work some of the same Brit-pop territory as Supergrass. But they also have plenty of cool guitar sound effects and unexpected melodic turns to carve out their own niche. Good stuff.

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