The Courteeners at 53 Degrees, Preston (29/9/08)

Much is made about the apparent arrogance of frontman Liam Fray, and obviously this draws comparisons with another gobby Mancunian front man called Liam, however, that is not to say that The Courteeners are anything like Oasis in the way they sound. Liam Fray pointed out that any such comparisons are “lazy” and he is right.

There is a fine line between self-confidence and arrogance. Oasis’ Liam Gallagher oozes confidence but he also adds a sense of charm and humour to his confidence whereas Fray comes across as cocky and somebody who loves himself too much. There was a moment midway into the gig, when bottles were being thrown around and one full of water or beer, seemingly broke Fray’s guitar and in his own egotistical way he lashed out some verbal abuse at the perpetrators mentioning how he was “f***ing brilliant at the guitar” and just two people were ruining it for everybody. “Fallowfield Hillbilly” has a line which says “Can you play guitar my boy? Can you f***?” How ironic.

Such criticism would suggest a bad review for The Courteeners is on its way, but that is far from the truth. To be fair to them, they put on a very good show which, if a tad unspectacular, gave the audience exactly what they wanted. Almost all of the album was played, there were new songs and even a B-side for the die-hard fans.

Even after releasing only a solitary album The Courteeners have a surprising number of sing-along anthems. “Not Nineteen Forever” caused a particular stir amongst the crowd, with everybody singing along with Fray. Set closer “What took you so long?” was a perfect choice to end the set as the audience continued to sing the “woah-oh-oh” long after the band departed the stage. New single, “That Kiss” was the weakest link in their set, The Courteeners do not suit sensitive sounding songs and it sounded totally out of place.

Liam played two songs solo (“No You Didn’t, No You Don’t” and “Yesterday, Today & Probably Tomorrow”). The idea of the front man playing two songs alone without the rest of the band stunk of self-indulgence but they proved to be a highlight of the night.
The Courteeners may not be the most original band or even the most likeable characters but something they know how to do is write a good sing-along lads’ anthem and the new songs did nothing to make one think otherwise.

3.5/5

Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires (XL Recordings)

Comparisons to New York’s kings of cool, The Rapture are obvious but their influence on music right now is there for all to see. Dance music is having quite an influence on indie at the moment and whilst “nu-rave” thankfully never really got going despite the hype, the likes of Friendly Fires, Late of the Pier and Klaxons are leading the way with their mixture of guitars and electro.

For an album that has taken some two years to make, the album seems very lean, clocking in at just 37 minutes, but this does not detract from the quality of the album at all.

The songs stick to a fairly similar formula throughout but there are some excellent stand out tracks (‘Paris’ and 'In the Hospital') but the album sounds good as a whole, not sounding out of place on the radio or on the dance floor. Instantly accessible, you’ll be sure to hear more from them.

4/5

To anyone that reads this...

I understand there are millions of you. Anyway, the module in my course at uni I was doing this for has now finished but I've decided to carry on using the blog but now with a different intention.

I've started to get back into writing album and gig reviews. I won' bother posting the old ones that I did a couple of years ago, but from now on, each review I do will be up on here.

Peace x