God Bless the Band

So last night, (23rd November 2024) me and a couple of friends headed into Birmingham to watch Courteeners first arena gig in the city. The band took to the stage in Birmingham for the first time since 2018. Fans had hated for a long time for the band to head back to the second city, and its safe to say they did not disappoint. 

Backed up by Mystery Jets, who we did not get to see, and the old faithful DMA’s who we did get to see a little bit off. It was a very heavy indie line up much to the delight of the thousands in attendance. 

At around 21:10 the band walked out to “Morning Glory” and launched straight into the new song “Sweet Surrender” a rather weird song to open the show, but it received a welcome reception. The next track is when the party really started though. 

“Are You Love with a Notion” has opened Courteeners shows for a very long time now and for good for reason.

It’s made for the live environment and the band proved that they are ready for arenas with not only the show last night but the whole tour. 

The setlist saw the band play a variety of songs. Stuff from the latest record “Pink Cactus Cafe” received as good a reception as the classics from “St Jude”.

Having seen the band countless times, it was nice to hear them play the new stuff, and for said new stuff to get a nice reception from the fans. 

The pacing of the setlist felt different to Courteeners shows I've seen in the past. Liam seemed to heavily use his acoustic guitar throughout the set. With a four song acoustic section in the middle and “Sunflower” being played just before. 

That being said the acoustic section did feature a brilliant cover of “It Must Be Love” which provided one of the best sing along moments of the evening

As well as a re-worked version of fan favourite. “Bide Your Time”. 

A four song encore ended the evenings proceedings with “Cavorting” kicking things off. Always a live favourite.

The band invited DMA’s back to the stage to play new single “The Beginning of the End.” It had the potential to be one of the highlights of the show, but to me it just felt a little flat. It wasn't bad by any means but it just felt a little bit mellow and tame. Having only played the song live a few times together though, it’s still the sound of both bands trying to find their feet with it. I can see it sticking around in the set list though, and I hope that it isn’t a one time thing between both bands, there’s definitely potential there for more collaborations.

Rounding off the evening was “Not Nineteen Forever” and “What Took You So Long” how the band always end it. 

It was all in all a very good evening. Despite their being some big omissions off the setlist but hey they can’t play everything!  

The band proved that they should be playing venues this size for years to come. They also proved that they don't need to rely on a fifteen year old record to shift tickets. This new record has opened up a whole new space for the band, that ventures outside of the northern indie rock that many associate them with. Courteeners prove themselves to be one of the very best live outfits and still one of the most innovative British bands out there today. 

Thanks for reading 

Jack