Bristol

The last time I saw The Courtneers I was surrounded by a group of over excited rugby boys in one of the worse nightclubs I’ve ever been in. An early bottle flung across staged forced Liam Fry into a somewhat “stooped” performance but never the less they rocked it, so getting to see the band in one of my favourite venues was always going to be something to look forward to.

The academy is surprisingly full for 8pm but I’m assuming the early curfew on the venues website had something to do with this (although some questioned whether it was just a ploy to fill the venue for a some what weak to say the least support act in “Twisted Wheel”). After what seemed a lifetime the new wave of Mancunian swagger took stage after Oasis classic, “Rock and Roll Star”, warmed the academy up and into immediate sing along. With a slightly “worse for wear” looking Fry, The Courteeners took stage and launched into a predictable but energetic set list.

It was clear the band had shown up but had the sound engineer? Despite Liam’s on stage signals the sound was poor to say the least, I think the engineer must have been still across the road nursing a drop of his favourite poison. Taking nothing away from Fry and Co. though, they give it both barrels and then some and at points you almost forgot how bad the levels were. It’s clear to see the that this is a band lead by a quite hypnotic front man but Fry is the first to acknowledge the rest of the band when ever possible and tonight they sounded spot on (just a shame you couldn’t hear it all as well as you’d have liked). New single “That Kiss” got an airing early on and the set was split with a solo performance from Fry and his cherry red Epiphone.

“Acrylic” encouraged mass sing along as did “Not Nineteen Forever” and as you’d expect a rousing rendition of “What Took You So Long” brought the Bristol massive into voice again for one last time before the night was brought to a close. A good performance from one of the most promising new bands around at the moment just a shame the sound didn’t quite do them justice.

words by Neil