It's been almost ten years since Supergrass last played Paris. In fact, that gig at La Cigale was their last one before their ten-year hiatus. To say that the gig was highly anticipated would be an understatement: the venue was absolutely packed to the gills and you could feel the trepidation in the air before the band walked on stage.
When the trio from Oxford finally walked in and started playing In It For The Money, the place just erupted. Suddenly, it was the late nineties again. Forty year-olds were bouncing up and down and twenty year-olds who were barely born during the Brit Pop wave were screaming every lyric and strumming along to every riff.
The good thing about coming back after a long break is that even your latest album is now considered a classic. Diamond Hoo Ha is almost twelve years old, and Bad Blood, which they played during the encores, got almost as big a response as anything from I Should Coco. Of course, the biggest cheers were for Alright and Pumping Up Your Stereo, but She's So Loose and St Petersburg were also warmly received by the sweaty crowd. In fact, the whole evening was filled with what now amounts to classics.
Back when they broke big, Supergrass were considered too rock and roll for the pop crowd and too pop for the rock and roll crowd. Now, such barriers are thankfully deemed obsolete. Rock, Brit-Pop, Alternative... whatever you want to call it, Supergrass is back. At least one thing in this world is Alright.