Sleeper - Reawaken their hits, and all their lovely bits!!!

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They have just been asleep, now they are back

Sleeper were first active from 1993 to 1998 as part of the Britpop era when a raft of indie bands dominated the charts. Alongside Blur, Oasis and Pulp you had the female fronted Elastica, Catatonia and of course Sleeper at the forefront, in fact they also gave rise to the phrase ‘sleeperbloke’ for the male backing band. Now when many of the bands of that era are giving us a nostalgia fest Sleeper are back. I think for a lot of men back in the 90's, Louise Wener was one of their first crushes... I know she was one of mine.

They open with one of their most instantly recognisable songs in ‘Nice guy Eddie’ and suddenly the room is transported back twenty years to relive their youth, and why not, they were great catchy tunes then and they still are now.  This is followed up with what was their second single all the way back in 1994 ‘Delicious’. Louise Wener was probably one of the best writers of the era too with the songs being witty and well written, in fact she became an author in intervening years. 

Next up was ‘Paradise Waiting’ from the new album ‘Modern Age’ the title track of which also got an airing later in the set. They fit seamlessly within the more familiar tracks as they stick to the Sleeper formula without trying to copy their past glory. During the gig Loiuse is the focus of attention as she paces up and down the stage and interacting well with the crowd throughout. The term sleeperbloke was a tad unfair at the time, but you can see how it was coined. I think it says more about her presence than a lack of anything from the blokes, because they wer all very good musicians.

The old hits are rattled through including ‘What do I do Now’ and ‘Inbetweener’ closed the main set after a cracking version of ‘Atomic’ originally by Blondie that even had the security guard singing along. They first did that track as part of the ‘Trainspotting’ soundtrack. In fact there were not many songs that did not have a fair portion of the audience singing along, the crowd grew up with these songs and I think the lyrics are implanted in them forever now, I certainly remembered most although I hadn’t listened to a few of the songs in years. 

The encore came with another new one ‘Look at you Now’ before what was one my favourite tracks in ‘Vegas’ got an airing about somebody changing their life on the tables of Sin City. Then the end came all too soon, by 10pm as it happened due to a club night after, with their probably best well known song ‘Sale of the Century’. A womderful night of fun BritPop tunes, I hope they stay around for a bit and maybe even have a bit more new music in them. 

Sleeper - Setlist
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Nice guy Eddie
Delicious
Paradise Waiting
What do I do Now?
Lie Detector
Blue like You
Statuesque
The Modern Age
Pyrotechnician
The Sun also Rises
Factor 41
Atomic / Love will tear us Apart
Inbetweener
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Look at you Now
Vega
Sale of the Century​
Review and Pictures by Jon Cooper 

Check Out! the Video for 'Nice guy Eddie' Below...