20 March 2010 (gig)
21 March 2010
The rise to success of The Courteeners has come fairly recently. Their first album, 'St. Jude’ reached number four in the UK album charts back in 2008 and their latest offering 'Falcon’, released last month, went to number six. There has been much hype surrounding their new record, with Liam’s face covering the front of NME and Channel 4 recently devoting a 40 minute show to an interview with the band, backed with some live footage from their gig at London’s KOKO. It would be fair to say that I was not entering the Academy as a fan, but with an open mind and looking forward to the great rock and roll show that I had been promised.
The band arrived onstage at 8.30pm after a pretty heavy sing-along to 'Rock n Roll Star’, which set the tone nicely. From the offset it was clear that this was very much a frontman led band. The crowd chanted 'Liam, Liam, Liam,’ on various occasions and I would be impressed if more than three people knew the names of anyone else in the band, not that this mattered particularly. The frontman interacted with the crowd a fair amount, picking out individual fans worthy of his plectrums, wearing their scarves and taking their cameras to film the room from the stage. It was a truly beautiful sight.
Now to the music. The problem I have with The Courteeners, which is one that I have with many an indie rock band, is that I just need a bit more. It doesn’t really go anywhere. There’s nothing much happening. It’s simple, catchy, fun and this is great, but you just feel that there are a million and one bands out there playing the circuits who can do, and are doing the same thing. Tracks like 'Please Don’t and 'Sycophant’ sounded good live, but they don’t make me think I’m hearing anything that I’ll ever really care about hearing again.
Beyond the dire title, 'Cross My Heart And Hope To Fly’ was the highlight of the night for me and felt like a great indie/dance tune; although beyond this, I struggled somewhat. It was clear however, that I was completely in the minority. The crowd (dominated by 17-19 year old males who had had one lager shandy too many) loved every minute. Liam didn’t need to sing a word if he didn’t want to. 'What Took You So Long’, 'Not Nineteen Forever, 'No You Didn’t, No You Don’t’ and early single from the new record, 'You Overdid It Doll’ were screamed back at the stage impressively.
The atmosphere was great and everyone enjoyed themselves. Perhaps at nearly 21 I felt a few years too old for the gig and the music; (football chants between the balcony and the floor of 'sit down, shut up’ and 'who the fucking hell are you’ made me feel a bit like I was in a sixth-form playground).
All in all it was an enjoyable night. The atmosphere was great and Liam owned the stage like any true frontman. The setlist gave the best from the old and new album and the packed Academy were having a ball. You just feel that rock and roll has more to offer and The Courteeners aren’t going to give it to you. Having said all this, Morrissey loves them, so I must be completely wrong.
