Though short-lived, Sleeper’s first outing encompassed three albums including top-five records Smart and The It Girl. Sleeper are currently touring the latter album as part of a postponed 25-year anniversary celebration.
The It Girl is by far the band’s most accomplished album, released when Sleeper were at the peak of their powers. Fresh from supporting Blur on their legendary Parklife tour and recording a cover of Blondie’s ‘Atomic’ for the soundtrack of Danny Boyle’s 90s classic Trainspotting, The It Girl contains a slew of top 20 singles, namely ‘Sale of the Century’, ‘Nice Guy Eddie’, ‘What Do I Do Now?’, and ‘Statuesque’.
Support comes from Manchester natives The Lottery Winners who provide an energised set of buoyant bops. Though this is to be a night of nineties nostalgia and Britpop galore, their status as relative newcomers keeps things fresh. A recent collaboration understandably inspired the support slot, with Louise Wener contributing vocals to their 2021 track ‘Bad Things.’
Unfortunately, this track is not performed live though I think it would have been a welcome addition to Sleeper’s headline set, if they had perhaps invited the band back onstage. The influence of Britpop is resonant in their closing song ‘21’, harking back to fellow Mancunians James and harnessing the potential to be an arena-filling anthem. Frontman Thom Rylance works the crowd, encouraging arm-swaying sing-alongs.
When Sleeper arrive onstage, anticipation is high. A plethora of merch-wearing men and women about 20 years my senior congregate near the barrier. Its clear they were fans when the album was initially released, and probably saw its titular tour 25 years earlier. That being said, Sleeper have kept busy in the intervening years. They released a fourth and fifth album The Modern Age and Pleased To Meet You in 2019 and 2021 respectively.
The ever-so-cool Louise Wener sports a silver sequinned midi skirt and white t-shirt, emblazoned with a photograph of Clara Bow, whom she explains was “the original It Girl.” The first set consists of the band playing the album in full, chronologically. They open with my favourite song, ‘Lie Detector’, a tune which feels timeless. An air of nonchalance in her London-accented delivery, Wener is pitch-perfect, sounding exactly like the original record.
The haunting opening chords of ‘Sale of the Century’ suddenly jolt into its supercharged verses. The deadpan and derisive lyrics still cut through, with Wener’s occasional sideward glances and smirks proving her to be as effortlessly cool today.
Louise is joined by fellow founding members Jon Stewart on lead guitar and Andy Maclure on drums, as well as recent addition and relative youngster Kieron Pepper on bass guitar. Maclure’s pulsating percussion along with the Weezer-esque chorus of ‘What Do I Do Now?’ are echoed throughout the church-cum-concert hall.
Introducing ‘Nice Guy Eddie’, Wener explains that when the band recorded the demos for their album, they assigned a name based on different characters from Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. “We called ‘Sale of the Century’ Mr Orange” she jokes, “but this is the only one that stuck!”
After ‘Click…Off…Gone’, Sleeper briefly depart from the stage and when they return, it’s for a slew of singles and hits from their other records. A few of their more recent efforts make their way into the set, but don’t quite spark fireworks in the way that ‘Vegas’ and ‘Inbetweener’ do. The latter, perhaps the band’s best-known song, is a triumph. Wener quite literally has the audience in the palm of her hand as they repeat the back-and-forth of the song’s witty words.
Of course, their Blondie cover makes an appearance, allowing for another huge sing-along moment. Interestingly though, Sleeper interpolate Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, a fitting choice given the city they’re playing in. Closing the show with a reprise of ‘Sale of the Century’, it’s clear that the band are revelling in the opportunity to play The It Girl to an ever-so-crowded Albert Hall all these years later. Not many bands get to do that, but it’s a testament to Sleeper’s talents for writing infectious tunes that have stood the test of time.
You can buy tickets for the remaining dates on Sleeper’s tour here.
Words by Sarah Taylor
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.