“There’s a big book backstage,” wry front-man Martin Rossiter quips, “with a record of all the gigs that have taken place since 1980 - and we’ve played here four times now. Who was here the first time when there were only about 300 people and we got our gear nicked - they’re at the bottom of the canal now!"
Resplendent in a two-piece suit in Barton Bus maroon, Rossiter may be greyer in the hair and less lithe in the waistline, but there’s no doubt his rich, sonorous voice is still in fine fettle.
If The Smiths, The Frank and Walters and James absconded for a dirty weekend in Brighton, there’s a good chance Gene could have been the offspring as snippets from each blend engagingly to produce an evocative mix.
Save Me, I’m Yours epitomises Rossiter’s fragile yet searingly honest lyrics, while better known tracks Haunted By You and Olympian are welcomed like long, lost friends drawing the main set to a close.
That’s not to say the Gene acolytes were impatiently waiting for them, mind, as everyone stood in my vicinity was bellowing back every word of every album track throughout.
London, Can You Wait?, For The Dead and the crescendo hitting Fighting Fit pack their first encore while Rossiter replaces Talbot on the keyboards for a tender solo rendition of Drawn To The Deep End, Is It Over? and Sleep Well Tonight which conclude the second set.
Always the pithy raconteur, it’s clear the band’s return has softened Rossiter, too - with heartfelt tributes to their first and late producer Phil Vinall paid as well as nostalgic tales of writing sessions in West London flats back in the day.
Time will tell if Gene have been revitalised enough to ponder a return to the studio now - Suede’s incredible LP resurgence in recent years will surely give them food for thought.
Gene performed at Rock City on 5th March 2026.
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