Courteeners @ Utilita Arena, 23rd November 2024
Courteeners have played Birmingham’s O2 Academy on each of their last five visits to the
city. This time around, the Manchester indie band finally take the leap to the arena at five
times the capacity.
Of course, Liam Fray and co. are no strangers to large audiences. They regularly pack out
main stage fields at festivals such as Reading and Leeds and – in their home city of
Manchester – sold out the 50,000 capacity Emirates Old Trafford in 2017. Often, there are
industry whispers that Courteeners just aren’t that big outside of the North of England.
Ending that argument once and for all, this tour charges through huge arenas across the
country.
To strengthen the booking, two impressive support acts are added to the bill. The first is indie
pop band, Mystery Jets. Criminally underrated, the band are given a 30-minute opening slot
to take us through their ever-improving six album discography. It’s a great set and having a
band of this calibre opening the night makes the already relatively reasonable ticket price a
very good deal.
Britpop-influenced Australian rock band, DMA’s, have already played Alexandra Palace in
their own right and so are a formidable support choice. The floor is packed as they take to
the stage and when mobile phones light up the room for “Silver” or people climb onto each
others’ shoulders for “Lay Down”, you would be forgiven for thinking this was their headline
show.
The generous opening bookings and quick turnaround times between sets really lift the
atmosphere from the feeling that this is just another gig to a sense of occasion, it’s a big
indie night out.
It’s something of a tradition for Courteeners to open with “Are You In Love With A Notion?”
but for this tour they have taken the arguably brave decision to deviate from that and instead
the show starts with a new track, “Sweet Surrender”. It’s taken from their 7 th studio LP, “Pink
Cactus Café”, which went to Number 2 in the UK last month – missing out on becoming their
2 nd Number 1 album at the very last minute by just a few hundred sales to an unscheduled
Tyler, The Creator release.
This choice means the crowd are uncharacteristically subdued at the start but it’s a great
opportunity to demonstrate that Courteeners are not resting on former glories and are
continuing to push themselves creatively. For the first half of the set, they mostly alternate
between a classic and something from the new record. This approach avoids the “new song
lull” that can arise at arena shows but simultaneously slows the momentum somewhat. The
new songs do sound great live and they are well-received by the audience but the pacing of
the setlist could do with a little work.
Frontman, Liam Fray, steps away from the guitar and prowls the stage for “Hanging Off Your
Cloud” which becomes a set highlight. This is an untypical display of showmanship for him
and further exhibits the group’s efforts to be seen as a ‘proper arena band’.
A solo acoustic section follows which includes an unnecessary cover of “It Must Be Love” –
this writer would have preferred it to have been switched with something from one of the
band’s own albums. “Take Over the World” or “Small Bones” would have fit well here and
their parent albums are surprisingly overlooked tonight.
Overpriced beer flies through the air during an encore made up of three giant hits from their
2008 debut, “St. Jude”, and “The Beginning of the End” from their latest record. DMA’s
feature on the latter and join the band to perform it.
Courteeners remain less polished than many of their contemporaries and this is part of their
charm. Their rough and ready approach does make the step up to venues like Utilita Arena
challenging. Their audience is notoriously rowdy and less likely to be interested in
purchasing seated tickets. However, only a few sections at the very back are curtained off
and the band succeed in establishing themselves as an arena draw.
Setlist:
- Sweet Surrender
- Are You In Love With A Notion?
- First Name Terms
- Acrylic
- Pink Cactus Café
- No You Didn’t, No You Don’t
- Solitude of the Night Bus
- The 17 th
- Modern Love
- Sunflower
- Hanging Off Your Cloud
- It Must Be Love
- Please Don’t
- Bide Your Time
- Smiths Disco
- Cavorting
- The Beginning of the End
- Not Nineteen Forever
- What Took You So Long?
Review: Ryan Simmonds
Feature photo courtesy of BlackArts PR (c) Michael Clement 2024
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