The Courteeners
IN the absence of a time machine, let’s leap between the years and consider what brings us to the Apollo to see The Courteeners start the first of two sold out dates.
Go back to 2005 and you might have witnessed Liam Fray singing songs on a kerb outside a Bootle Street nightclub, it happened more often than not.
Fast forward to the end of a one hour and fifteen minute set in Ardwick on a chilly October night, following a colossal rendition of What Took You So Long? and stop for a second.
Consider the tabloid column inches, blessings from their idols (Morrissey, to name the most important one) and the ignorance of national play lists in between.
It’s been a blur, one hell of a journey and when Liam steps to the mic, welcoming the crowd to his hometown double-header with lyrics to The Smiths’ hit Ask, he kick starts a show which is brave, tender and riotous in equal measure.
Acrylic
Aftershow, Kokaine Kimberly and Acrylic are wedged into the first 10 minutes, it would be bold to suggest that the bravado had given way to nerves, but let’s be as bold as they perceive to be.
They seemed a little nervous. A reminder that they aren’t all just blustery bravado that gives the lads something to sing in the street after ten pints.
Kings Of The New Road, which measures an enticing subtlety with gritty riffs, forces a calming lull in the charged atmosphere before Slow Down offers a real life demonstration from the idiots' guide to great sing-a-long.
You can choose to find the poetry in Fray’s eloquent lyrics, like the stark Please Don’t, but it’s just as easy to throw yourself into one of the band’s mass grin-alongs.
Bravery
Confidence has all too often been misquoted as arrogance, but there’s no mistaking bravery and Fray’s decision to take a moment without his band, accompanied by only a string quartet for the beautiful Yesterday, Today defies his relative inexperience.
It’s a showstopper, his vulnerability onstage, in a shallow light, diminished by the scale of what he is achieving before your eyes.
New single That Kiss follows, as pure a pop record as you could hope for which only goes to help remove the ageing slurs of them being Libertines copyists.
We know this is home turf when Fray asks “Where’s Eileen”, finding his mum in the crowd and showing her his band’s name in lights.
Not Nineteen Forever comes along and if Eileen didn’t believe it then, she’ll certainly believe it now.
With one hell of an anthem to stop time in it’s tracks his mother and Manchester should be well proud.
Do you think The Courteeners delivered? Have your say.
The Courteeners play the Apollo again on Friday, October 10. £15. Call to check for returns. Ida Maria and It's A Buffalo support. To celebrate The Courteener’s triumphant homecoming gigs this week, the boys recorded Thursday’s gig which will be turned into a live four-track EP. Fans can get hold of the special edition for a bargain price of just 99p. All you have to do is pre-order at www.7digital.com/thecourteeners or text LIVE EP to 78789.
Reviewed: Fri, 10 October, 2008
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