The entertainment began even before suede took the stage at Queen Elizabeth Stadium on Sunday, as to the crushing chords of the Sex Pistols an unseen, unheard call to arms suddenly led hundreds of punters to abandon their seats and rush for stage front. *Mag: yeah! We ran out of our seats 45 mins before the gig began!* *Kel: My heart beat faster and faster!*

And just when we thought the dry ice would run out before a live note was played, suede's Introducing the Band started up, though the stage was invisible through the darkness and fog.  But wait a minute, this was being played straight off their last album, Dog Man Star - were we in for the Mili Vanilli treatment here?  Thankfully no, this was a way of, well, introducing the band *Yo: I can never forget the moment when Brett came out from the dark. I just went, " Oh, my darkstar is rising!!!"* And before long suede were on stage, plunging into this Hollywood Life, then We are the Pigs.

What many suede fans were no doubt anxious to see was whether new recruit Richard Oakes could fill the shoes of guitarist Bernard Butler, who quite the band last year.  And the answer is: yes, at least in terms of live imitations of his predecessor.  Oakes, not yet even 20, does a remarkably accurate job of capturing Butler's sound and note-for-note mimicking his lick-rich style.  But his playing was heavy handed for the more subtle parts, and he seemed to get lost in his longer solos.

Nevertheless, Oakes is also an extremely energetic performer, stomping his foot, ducking and weaving, and often looking like he's trying to throttle the life from his instrument. * Kel: Hehe... he was digging a hole on the stage!*  On occasion he was reminiscent of Pete Townshend in his heyday, and in the visual entertainment stakes he comes dangerously close to upstaging frontman Brett Anderson. *Yo: Hehe.... Richard was lucky enough to escape from the mic-attack this time!*

Anderson, meanwhile, who seems to have shed his glam waif image for a more "laddish" look, sounded clear and powerful - there is no doubt that he can really sing and does not need to hid behind a studio.

But for all the hype about Anderson's persona, he doesn't have much of that indefinable star quality which fills a stage. *?????*  While a fine singer and hard worker onstage he is otherwise unexceptional as a frontman. *Mag: that's definitely not what we felt!*  He certainly came across as far too ordinary to be the glamorous, angst-ridden artist painted by the music media * Yo: Well...... I think Mr Davy needs some kinda eye-sight test! *.

As for the set, most of it was from the ban's two albums to date, including Metal Mickey, Animal Nitrate, So Young(which set the place alight), and Heroine.  Some numbers suffered ever so slightly for being stripped of their production, but mostly they were faithful, if more raw-edged, performances.

After almost exactly an hour the band left the stage, apparently expecting encore demands.  But the crowd was about 50 per cent young Chinese(a very different demographic from last month's REM concert) perhaps not used to encore etiquette, and they seemed unaware that if you want more, you scream.  The band played a somewhat lacklustre encore anyway, leaving with a whimper rather than a bang. *Mag:  what they played??? My dark star & He's dead… yeah what a whimper!!! Brett danced just like he was in the Love & Poison video...* * Yo: I always think this is a honour to see Brett performing these two brilliant B-sides in live!!!*

But suede gave Hong Kong a much-needed infusion of raw and fizzling rock music.  And with a bit of luck, Richard Oakes' playing will inspire at least one local would-be axe hero to ditch those beloved heavy metal scales and learn to play form the heart.  * Yo: Thanx Suede for giving us the first chance to be the REAL DROWNERS!*

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