By Kathleen Speirs
The ‘Barrowlands’ never fails to provide a cracking night out, and its sold out Courteeners gig at the beginning of November was by no means an exception to the rule.
Marking the fourth stop of their month long, UK wide tour with two nights at our renowned Gallowgate venue, Courteeners released dates in August after much heated anticipation off the back of their most recent albumn ‘Concrete Love’.
Failing to chart the same success as previous albumn, ‘Anna’, dubbed by NME writer Joe Cross as their, ‘best to date’ the band’s latest record, despite providing some good old indie pop we fans long to hear arguably lacks anything we haven’t heard before. In light of this and having loved their previous gig at The O2 Academy in 2013, I was ever so slightly fearful of being a little let down.
Yet our Lord Liam Fray &Co managed to pull it out the bag, making for an exceptional night only we Glaswegians could possibly handle.
Getting the crowd going were, ‘Vigo Theives’ who whilst keeping with the tone of what was to follow, brought something fresh and new, particularly with new hard-hitting single ‘This Love’. Famed as the first unsigned band to sell out King Tuts, the rousing Wishaw five-piece acted as the perfect ‘almost winter’ warm-up.
Onto the main event and driving beats with, ‘How Good it Was.’ kick started a set list which struck just the right balance of old and new. Other new tracks featured included, ‘Summer’ reminding us of the sing-along, easy-listening anthems the Mancunian collective do best. Although it has to be said that the likes of ‘Are you in love with a notion?’ and ‘Lose Control’ from, ‘Concrete Love’s’ successful predecessor, alongside old favourites, ‘Acrylic’ and ‘Cavorting’ were what really set the tone. As the evening progressed and fans were suitably soaked with beer and the ‘Barras’ ignited with an atmosphere later summarised via twitter from the lead singer, ‘F*** ME WHAT A NIGHT’ the four piece broke into the well-loved, ‘Not nineteen forever’ which really brought the house down.
In short, a great night was had by all. As much as it felt obvious that this time round, Courteeners were relying quite heavily on old material to keep the loyalists loyal, this well assembled, and incredibly performed mix of what’s been and what’s to come resulted in a once again triumphant night for a band who in this kind of environment simply cannot do wrong.}
