IT is more than 20 years since Suede last played in Blackburn and a lot has changed in that time.

Next week Brett Anderson will take to the stage at King George’s Hall as the band - which many credit with being the catalyst for the Britpop movement - continue to enjoy a sort of second coming.

The darlings of the music press in the early Nineties, Suede were dubbed ‘best band in the world’ by Melody Maker who put them on the cover before they had even released a record.

Their debut album and follow-up Dog Man Star seemed to cement their place at the forefront of the British music scene with Anderson a charismatic and mysterious figure.

By 2003 Suede had split following a series of less well-received releases and obscurity beckoned. But fast forward to 2010 and Suede returned with a new energy and last year they released, The Blue Hour, their third album having reformed.

Tuesday’s show in Blackburn will be only the second date of their latest UK tour and Brett Anderson can’t wait.

“I love playing live,” he said. “I assumed that as I got older (he’s now 51) I’d almost withdraw from playing live but quite the opposite has happened.

“I kind of feel as though the band is much more vital and exciting live than we ever were in the Nineties and that’s a very exciting place to be in.

“Honestly, I relish that hour and a half on stage – it’s life affirming.”

Brett believes that, in a sense, the band have been given a second chance and that this time round they are in a much better position to enjoy the experience.

“We struggled very hard for three years before we achieved any success,” he said. “But when you’re young and you finally do achieve success there is a sense that it’s always going to be like this.

“A career has so many ups and downs - it’s a journey. You go into dark places and go into light places – it’s like a microcosm of a life.

“As you get older you do learn to enjoy the things that sometimes in your youth you took for granted.

“You have to evolve as a person and an artist and that’s what has been so incredibly exciting abut this phase of our career.

“We have been lucky enough to have got another go at it. We split up in 2003 and I think it’s fair to say it wasn’t particularly mourned by the record buying public.

“We finished on a bit of a bum note with the last album (A New Morning) so there was a sense of anti-climax because we didn’t go out on a high.”

When the band got back together in 2010 Brett believes they all had some unfinished business as a result.

“I think reforming and making the last three albums was very much a sense of us of trying to right the wrongs which were very much self-inflicted,” he said.

As well as producing new albums and touring, Brett has also published the memoir Coal Black Mornings about this early life and the initial days of Suede.

“I’m always writing,” he said, “if it’s not music, it’s books. In winter it’s my way of hibernating. I’m at my happiest when I’m working.”

With a major UK tour ahead, Brett is clearly energised by the prospect.

“I feel very inspired at the moment as an artist,” he said. “It feels as if the bit is very much between our teeth.”

A Suede live show is always an interesting experience

“We’re very conscious that we have got such rich back catalogue so we try and reflect it all,” he said.

“Obviously we will play songs from the new album because they seem the most relevant to us. On the last tour we tried to play a song we’d never played before every night but I don’t think we’ve got any more of them left.

“But I do think you have got to try and surprise your audience.

“I can’t really understand bands playing same set in same order and how they do that and stay excited about what they are doing. We have to do something that’s a bit more unusual or unexpected which makes us a bit more present I suppose.”

Brett revealed that the second part of his memoirs will be published later in the year and that he is already working on a follow-up to The Blue Hour.

“I don’t know where that’s going but that’s part of the thrill of it really,” he said.

Suede, King George’s Hall, Blackburn, Tuesday, April 16. Details from 0844 847 1664 or www.kinggeorgeshall.com