Supergrass on Tour
Supergrass have always been known as the jauntiest, most youthful sounding act to emerge from the '90s Britpop movement, and to be sure, those qualities still ring out when the Oxford quartet hit the stage. But more than Blur or even Oasis, the band also leaned far harder into the influence of their arena-rocking, guitar-wielding forefathers, like the Who and the Stones. The intersection of these key characteristics means that a Supergrass show comes chock-full of loud riffs, big hooks and countless opportunities to fist-pump and pogo simultaneously. Nearly every song feels like a horizon bursting at dawn, and the unchanged lineup — Gaz Coombes on vocals and guitar, Mickey Quinn on bass, Danny Goffey on drums and Rob Coombes on keys — means they can crank out a catalog's worth of jams with maximum impact, from the chiming "Alright" to the grinding "Diamond Hoo Ha Man."
Supergrass in Concert
Supergrass' roots are as youthful as their sound. Gaz Coombes met Danny Goffey in their cheeky high school shoegaze band the Jennifers, and he met Mickey Quinn while they were both working entry-level jobs at an English restaurant chain. Their first single together, 1994's "Caught By the Fuzz," was appropriately punk-pop exuberant and was also about Coombes getting arrested for possession at 15, but the band soon displayed a wise-beyond-their-years approach to songcraft, swirling up the clanging energy of the Buzzcocks with the playfulness of the Kinks, the grand songcraft of Elton John and the sweaty pomp of the Rolling Stones. While Supergrass earned a reputation for adventurousness over the decades — the subtle psychedelia of 1997's In It for the Money and 2005's moody Road to Rouen come to mind — they never strayed far from the sort of smartly catchy and rousing rock that totally justifies song titles like "Pumping on Your Stereo." The group split after 2008's Diamond Hoo Ha, but they fired Supergrass back up in 2019 in time to tour the 25th anniversary of their debut LP, I Should Coco. Considering the members' lifelong bonds, it's no surprise the reunion stuck.
