Last week I attended my final live music event of 2018 to see Manchester band Courteeners perform at O2 Guildhall Southampton.
I’ve seen them play live twice before at summer festivals; Reading 2014 and Glastonbury 2015 but this was my first time seeing them at an indoor venue on their UK tour.
I know from their previous live shows I’ve attended and watching performances on TV, their fans are a rowdy and lively bunch. However this particular crowd were off their rockers even before Courteeners were on stage. Drinks and shoes were being thrown and there was a lot of spontaneous chanting and singing. Luckily we were safely sat on the wheelchair platform away from the chaos. After nearly 2.5 hours of waiting, the show finally began.
They opened with Are You In Love With a Notion? and continued with other well known tracks including Cavorting, Acrylic, Small Bones & Lose Control. I was actually amazed how many songs I knew despite only hearing two of their albums; St Jude & Mapping the Rendezvous. I then realised many of the songs I heard on a live track album but never heard the original recordings. Many of these songs were taken from their studio album ANNA which was released in 2013. They also played songs from their latest album Mapping the Rendezvous including Has He Told You That He Loves You Yet?, The 17th & Modern Love.
In addition, they also introduced to us three new tracks; the positive & catchy Better Man, the energetic & fiery Heavy Jacket and the simple & melodic acoustic sound of Hanging Off Your Cloud. However one audience member decided to share his ‘professional’ opinion on this track by calling lead singer, Liam Fray, a “DICK!”. Liam then came back with a few choice of words including “f****** a****** b****** c***”
The ultimate highlight of the night has to be them performing my three favourite songs; Please Don’t, Not Nineteen Forever & What Took You So Long?. They are just perfect, fun, sing-along, fist pumping tracks that are timeless and memorable.
The only thing that disappointed me was the support act. Initially it was announced Courteeners would be supported by Scottish singer/songwriter Gerry Cinnamon who I was eager to see live. Unfortunately when I checked Courteeners’ tour dates online, it said he would be playing every date except Southampton. Instead we had a female artist called Zuzu who I wasn’t very keen on.
Overall it was a nice final night out before Christmas!
