Review: The Courteeners at Liverpool University

Mar 8 2010 by Ben Coulbeck, Chester Chronicle

THE COURTEENERS/Liverpool University, 6/7/10

REVIEW/By Ben Coulbeck

SCOUSERS and Mancunians have a love-hate relationship as they love to hate each other, at least most of the time.

But Manchester band The Courteeners experienced nothing but love and adoration from a packed crowd at Liverpool University on Saturday night.

Since Oasis put down their guitars, without so much as a “nice one, cheers” at V Festival last summer, pretenders to the Mancunian thrown The Courteeners have enjoyed a steady rise to prominence and their recent release Falcon has evidently helped them gain many more followers on Merseyside.

But in an ironic twist, it is the customary playing of Oasis’ Rock and Roll Star that gets the fans ‘mad for it’ before Courteeners hit the stage.

Soon enough though, it is Liam Fray, not Liam Gallagher, that has the crowd bouncing along to his riotous riffs made in Middleton.

Fray, an amiable and heartfelt frontman, opens the set with two classics Cavorting and Acrylic, taken from the celebrated first album St Jude but what is most impressive is that material selected from Falcon, released earlier this month, is greeted with similar affection by the sing-a-long Scousers.

From above, the crowd lap up every word of Fray’s genuine statements of gratitude for the album sales while the moshing maniacs ‘down the front’ makes for compulsive viewing.

But after a short break, during which Fray delivers a triumvirate of toned-down melodies, including Rest of the World, No You Didn’t and Yesterday Today, the highlight of the night comes when they thrash out Not 19 Forever which, to a man from front row to the back, sends the crowd into a surging mass of blood, sweat and beers.

And if that wasn’t enough to send the fans home, or more likely out into Liverpool’s pubs and clubs, happy then signature tune What Took You So Long is the perfect finale to a powerful performance full of passion and promise.

ON THE RISE: The Courteeners shook Liverpool University to its foundations on Saturday. zz180210courteneers-2