Liam Fray and his band took new album ‘Anna’ on the road and stopped in Liverpool to give their fans a Monday night they will never forget.
Manchester band Findlay were the only support band, flying through a 30 minute set, bringing raw vocals and edgy guitars that remind you of bands like The White Stripes, to the stage. Findlay were an excellent support band, doing exactly what a support band should and get the crowd up for it, not that a Courteeners crowd needs to be motivated though. Findlay were on the bill for the Courteeners homecoming gig at Manchester Arena in late 2012 so most of the fans were already familiar with them, certainly a band that will be headlining their own tour in the near future.
9pm strikes and the room goes dark, only to be lit up with the artwork of ‘Anna’ at the back of the stage – a nice touch, before Liam Fray ran on stage to a huge reception. The Courteeners played an ‘Anna’ fuelled set including opening trio ‘Are You In Love With A Notion?’, ‘Push Yourself’ and latest single ‘Lose Control’. It is safe to say the new album sounds absolutely superb live.
Bringing back the old days, the band flew into crowd raving indie anthems ‘Cavorting’ and ‘Acrylic’ from their 2008 debut album ‘St Jude’. Liam hailed his adoring fanbase for sticking around and thanked them for buying ‘Anna’ bringing “good music back into the charts” and also stating the band “were really proud of Anna”.
Back to the music and back to ‘Anna’ we went with one of the best tracks on the album ‘Van Der Graaff’ before the slower, lyrically stronger track ‘When You Want Something You Cant have’. Into the ‘St Jude’ sing-a-longs we went with ‘Please Don’t’ and a personal favourite ‘Bide Your Time’, the sold out crowd sang at the top of their voices all night but seemed to find an extra level for them two songs especially.
Second studio album ‘Falcon’ was also represented on the setlist, as one of the songs of the night ‘Sycophant’ was played to a wild crowd who partied like it was a Saturday night rather than a Monday night. The band played “one for the couples” with ‘Take Over The World’ with a great lighting production including discoballs. The band left the stage to Liam Fray to play a three song solo set of ‘Last Of The Ladies’, ‘Marquee’ and ‘The Rest Of The World Has Gone Home’ – a real highlight from a superb night.
The rest of the band came back on stage to finish the set with big anthems off ‘Anna’; ‘Welcome To The Rave’ and the album ending ‘Here Come The Young Men’, two songs that will certainly be on Courteeners setlists for a very long time. Liam once again took some time to thank his fans for “the best Monday night in Liverpool he has ever had” and hailed a new beginning for his band – They’re certainly back and their “heart is here, here to stay” as Liam Fray once said in that ‘Falcon’ opener..
The band finished the gig by sending the Liverpool crowd nuts once again with ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ before the ultimate sing-a-long ‘What Took You So Long?’.
There are many bands out there similar to the Courteeners, but the presence of frontman Liam Fray, their dedication to their fanbase and the fantastic show they always put on just makes them stand out from the crowd and make themselves a lot of people’s favourite band. On the basis of this gig, the Courteeners really are back, and back to their fantastic best, they are going to be stand out performers at the summer festivals, that’s a guarantee.