Live Review: Supergrass at The Riviera Theatre • Chicago
Supergrass
The Riviera Theatre
Chicago, IL
September 9, 2025
Review and photos by Jeff Elbel.
Supergrass may not have scaled the same heights in North America as Britpop frontrunners, including the Verve, Blur, or touring hosts Radiohead during the ’90s and early ’00s, but the band from Oxford, England, made an indelible mark and proved to have greater staying power than the vast majority of its early peers. The band initially grabbed attention for the cheeky, hyper-caffeinated glam-pop of 1995 debut album I Should Coco before undertaking a rapid and satisfying evolution. A string of albums, including Road to Rouen, showed a steadily increasing sense of melodic sophistication and thematic depth that was a surprising contrast to the primal power-pop of early fare like the rebellious “Caught by the Fuzz.” As the band widened its emotional palette, it did so without sacrificing accessibility and fun. Each of the band’s six albums carries a whiff of greatness. Supergrass split in 2010 following support for 2008’s Diamond Hoo Ha, but the group has reunited occasionally in the years since.
Sunday’s show at the Riv was part of a brief North American jaunt celebrating the original, youthful spark of I Should Coco and its 30th anniversary. The album arrived when bassist Mick Quinn and drummer Danny Goffey were in their early twenties, and singer/guitarist Gaz Coombes was 19. In middle age, the trio (deftly augmented by the not-so-secret weapon of keyboardist and longtime bandmember Rob Coombes) made impressive work of highlighting their earliest material with the ferocious energy of their younger days.
The set list included all 13 songs from I Should Coco commingled with songs spanning the Supergrass catalog. Highlights included the effervescent “Alright” that once inspired Steven Spielberg to offer the band its own Monkees-style TV show. The chugging “Caught by the Fuzz” described an underage pot bust. “If only my brother could be here now, he’d get me and he’d sort me out alright,” sang Gaz Coombes, one of four brothers. Perhaps the brother he sang about was the one sitting directly behind him onstage, playing shimmering organ.
Gaz Coombes reminisced about early shows at The [Cabaret] Metro and expressed the band’s eagerness to return to Chicago. “It’s taken us a little while, but we’re happy to be here,” he said. He also told stories behind several of the I Should Coco songs. “We wrote this when we were very young,” he said when setting up “She’s So Loose.” “It’s about underage sex with older ladies.”
Later songs also went down a storm. “We haven’t played this for fuckin’ years,” said Coombes before launching the bristling “Diamond Hoo Ha Man.” The song fused Zeppelin-styled riffing with melodic glam-rock a la Mott the Hoople. The crowd clapped along with drummer Danny Goffey’s resolute beat.
The versatile band shifted roles occasionally. Goffey left his drum riser to play bass on “We’re Not Supposed To.” Coombes explained that the loopy song was put together when the band members were living together as teens, saying the original recording was abetted by touches of both vari-speed and acid.
The band’s tightly knit arrangements of songs, including “Strange Ones,” shifted gears on a dime, with musicians locking into thrilling tempo and dynamic shifts or careening at breakneck pace on songs like “Sitting Up Straight” without faltering. Mick Quinn’s powerful and melodic bass propelled the energetic blast of “Lenny” alongside Goffey’s rapid hi-hat pulse. Big brother Rob Coombes occasionally took the spotlight, with his soaring organ figures elevating songs like the loping blues boogie of “Time.”
Gaz Coombes announced that “Sofa (Of My Lethargy)” had never been performed in Chicago. The song’s tuneful psychedelic pop unfolded with Coombes and Quinn swapping instruments.
Road to Rouen’s single “St. Petersburg” was wistful and sublime. Goffey coaxed different drum textures with mallets while Rob Coombes played piano and glistening synthesizer sounds. The song marked the evening’s heaviest contrast with the amphetamine rush of I Should Coco.
Quinn and Goffey dug in hard together for the relentless, power-packed, and prog-infused “Richard III.” Quinn sang high harmony to Gaz Coombes’ urgent melody while elder brother Rob played snaky synthesizer leads.
Fans made various attempts at communication that proved to be indecipherable by the band members until some in the audience started shouting for their favorite songs. “You seem to think this is like a request show in Vegas or something,” quipped Gaz Coombes. Goffey himself yelled from the drum riser for Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds.” Coombes resolved to “do what’s next on the fuckin’ list here.” “I think you’ll like it,” he said as he began the mood-shifting “Moving.” The song’s keening vocal sparked a mid-set singalong while the song alternated between gliding choruses and carnivalesque stomp.
Goffey shared the story behind the Bowie-esque single “Grace,” describing a girl who visited the recording studio to ask for charitable donations during the creation of Life on Other Planets. The crowd echoed the benevolent request, singing the line “save the money for the children” in call-and-response with the band.
Coombes asked the crowd to make the room pretty with phone lights. “I know it’s a bit cheesy, but it looks good with this.” The main set concluded under starry lights with the breezy acoustic goodnight song “Time to Go.” The concert coalesced with an encore of the euphoric “Sun Hits the Sky” from sophomore slump-smashing album In It for the Money. The giddy “Pumping on Your Stereo” closed the show with glam-rock swagger reminiscent of Bowie’s “The Jean Genie.”
Supergrass last played a handful of North American reunion dates in 2022, including a Los Angeles date at the Wiltern attended by your faithful correspondent. That show seemed under-rehearsed, a bit disconnected, and not quite ready for prime time. Fast forward to Tuesday in Chicago, when Supergrass were dialed in and white hot. The interplay and musicianship were dynamite. With luck, the band could return under such conditions for the 30th anniversary of another one of its remaining five albums – or better yet, with fresh material.
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