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| ANNA |
Indie icons The
Courteeners finished their latest tour in spectacular fashion in front of a
typically lively Saturday night crowd at Brixton Academy. The Manchester four
piece were touring their recently released album ANNA but played a varied
setlist spanning all 3 of their studio LPs.
Opening up with a new
song, Are You In Love With A Notion?, frontman Liam Fray soon whipped
the crowd up into a frenzy. Fray is your stereotypical swaggering Mancunian but
has good looks that the likes of Brown, Ryder and L. Gallagher can only dream
of, endearing himself to lads and ladies in equal measure. He also has a
genuinely good voice which sounded every bit as good here as it does on disc.
The early stages of
the gig were heavily focussed on the new record, with the first three songs
played being from ANNA. The new album has had mixed reviews and even a loyal
fan such as myself felt that it didnt stand up to the last two. Played live,
however, the new songs more than stood up to the test. Latest single Lose
Control was followed by old favourite Cavorting from their debut
album and was meant with a suitably ecstatic reaction for a song that
references "Hooligans on E". Following this up with Acrylic
lead to another 3 and a half minutes of manic moshing.
Having read one or
two reviews from previous gigs on the tour that said it had been left out, it
was a pleasant surprise to hear the brilliant 2010 single You Overdid It
Doll played here. The rest of the crowd seemed to appreciate it as well and
sang along joyously.
After playing Sycophant
which is another track off the second album Falcon, the rest of the band
walked off stage and left Fray on his own with a guitar for company. During
this time he played four ballads; the new song Marquee, the brilliant Last
Of The Ladies (during which he swapped his guitar for a piano), The Rest
Of The World Has Gone Home (another blinder, it references Neil Young, what
more can you say?) and concluding with early B side Smiths Disco for no
other reason than this was what was shouted loudest by a chap at the front in
response to the question "Any requests?"
Then back came the
rest of the band to fire into a couple of new tracks (including the best track
song off the new album, Here Come The Young Men with its brilliant
opening statement: "I'm in work in an hour and a half, and the gin is
still fresh on the end of my scarf") before Liam put out his trademark
shout of "Front to back, up and down, now" as the intro to Not
Nineteen Forever began. The crowd obliged and one of the lairiest mosh pits
that I can remember and i've been around the block a bit when it comes to gigs
ofthis nature. There was barely time for us to recover as the boys then kicked
straight into their traditional closer What Took You So Long?
With just about
everyone in the crowd; male and female, young and old dancing ecstacially and
singing every word back it was a suitable end to another brilliant night in the
company of The Courteeners.
Setlist
Are You In Love With
A Notion?
Push Yourself
Lose Control
Cavorting
Acrylic
Van Der Graaf
Please Don't
You Overdid It Doll
When You Want
Something You Can't Have
Scratch Your Name
Upon My Lips
Bide Your Time
Take Over The World
Sycophant
Marquee
Last Of The Ladies
The Rest Of The World
Has Gone Home
Smiths Disco
Welcome To The Rave
Here Come The Young
Men
Not Nineteen Forever
What Took You So
Long?
The Courteeners third studio album ANNA can be
downloaded here (also available on CD and Vinyl)
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