The Courteeners - Live
[Manchester Academy]

With the hype of The Courteeners mounting with every appearance, it would be naive to expect the sold out gig in their hometown to be welcomed with anything less than the highest of expectations. The Middletonian band have probably experienced the most memorable 2 weeks of their lives, with their debut album St Jude reaching Number 3 in the charts, wall to wall gigs and the announcement of their national tour opening in Newcastle on the 3rd of October.

The Mancunian band ‘It’s a Buffalo’ opened the night, and were received well with cheers and chants of ‘Hoops’ relating to the sweatbands worn by the drummer (Thorley) and front man (Bennett). Named as Liam Fray's ‘Favourite new band’, ‘It’s a Buffalo’ were very impressive, and their track ‘Marbles’ had a fraction of the crowd singing along with them.

As the applause subsided, the band swaggered on stage, beer bottles in hand and confidently opened with the energetic favourite ‘Aftershow’. After only managing 2 songs, technical difficulties encouraged boo’s from the unforgiving crowd. Nevertheless, Fray's reaction of ‘if I’m not happy, you're not happy… Manchester doesn’t like being messed about boys’ illustrated the likeability of these local lads.

‘Teeners quickly overcome the sound problems lavishing the crowd with their Indie/Pop masterpiece Acrylic. This was hastily followed by the Indie/Folk track ‘Smithsdisco’ and the energetic album track ‘Kings of the new road’. The variety of such tracks reinforces the reviews of ‘St Jude’ that The Courteeners are far from a ‘one trick pony’ so to speak.

‘Cavorting’, ‘Bide your time’ and W.T.Y.S.L’ conveyed the bands passion and accompanied by the dedicated fans chanting every word set the bar for any performances to come. Disregarding the technical faults, their instrumental and more so Fray's vocal abilities were something that anyone would struggle to condemn.

However one criticism of the night would be that The Courteeners principally appeared as Liam Fray's backing band. The stage set up, and even more so the acoustic tracks such as ‘Yesterday, Today and Probably Tomorrow’ left Fray alone on the stage wallowing in his own confidence. This was disheartening, as I'd never noticed this when seeing them previously and can only suggest his self-belief was all too apparent.

The sell-out gig at the Manchester Academy on the 19th April is unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon, accompanied by fellow Mancunians It’s a Buffalo the tour of relatively small venues is unlikely to last with their nationwide tour in October. The success of this night is evident and the bands hard work and love of performing was something very humbling regardless of Fray's facade. The crowd thrived off every song and the adoration for The Courteeners was something I've never observed for such a relatively new band.