Suede’s fervent Hong Kong fans lure band back for their sixth concert in city
Bassist Mat Osman says band members are inspired by the reaction their music receives from Hongkongers
Few international bands can claim Hong Kong as a spiritual home the way that Suede can.
The indie front runners of the UK Brit-pop scene have performed live in the city five times and will be returning for a sixth concert on August 16.
And it’s all thanks to the fans. Suede’s Hong Kong contingent are among the band’s most ardent followers, says bassist Mat Osman.
“When we first went, we were told the crowd would be full of expats – bankers,’’ says Osman over the phone from London. “What was amazing was going there and seeing local faces. They really have our music in their bones – it’s really inspiring to have all your ideas about music and art confirmed to you.”
Osman says the upcoming show at AsiaWorld-Expo will be a a highlight of a summer dominated by festival shows in Europe for the five-piece band, led by flamboyant singer Brett Anderson.
“Hong Kong has always been amazing for us,’’ he explains. “One of the things that happened early on for us was that people said we were a ‘London band’. But we were more than that. We’ve always been unusual, a band about big emotions. And I think the fans in Hong Kong were big on that idea.”
The cavernous AsiaWorld-Expo is a far cry from the relatively confined surroundings of Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai that hosted Suede for the first time in 1995. They last played in Hong Kong in 2013.
