Courteeeners performed one of their biggest hometown shows to date at Heaton Park, Manchester last night (June 9) to celebrate 15 years of their debut album ‘St.Jude’.
The Mancunian indie veterans performed in front of a 50,000 strong crowd with a two-hour set that saw the band perform their 2008 debut LP in its entirety, along with choice cuts from across their catalogue.
On the same day that ‘St Jude’ hit platinum status – following it finally hitting Number One upon re-release back in January – the band kicked off proceedings with ‘Aftershow’, before launching into a flurry from the celebrated debut including ‘Cavorting’ ‘Bide Your Time’ and ‘Fallowfield Hillbilly’.
Courteeners Heaton Park tonight pic.twitter.com/VzaAiEtL9U
— Neil (@Harryhatch) June 9, 2023
Speaking to NME moments after coming offstage at the end of the night, frontman Liam Fray attempted to process the palpable sense of occasion. “That was really, really special, I’ll tell you next week how it was because it won’t sink in for a while,” he said.
“I don’t know whether it’s because we’re getting older but we’re enjoying these moments more,” he continued. “You’re aware of the mad potential when you put the show on sale, I have to look at that tonight and it has to last me.”
Speaking on their enduring status as local heroes, he said: “It’s great because we weren’t cool then and we’re not fucking cool now. You just get on with it and people like it if you’re not a pretender don’t they?”
Though he mostly let the music do the talking on-stage, ahead of an acoustic flurry which included fan-favourites like ‘Please Don’t’ and ‘Smiths Disco’, Fray took a moment to take stock of things, shielding his eyes from the setting sun, letting out a laugh and saying, “Fucking hell”, before adding ”Good evening Manchester, this is proper.”
Discussing the setlist after the show, Fray said: “We’re so privileged to still be doing this now, people don’t want to hear 14 new demos, they want to hear ‘Bide Your Time’, so you do that then you throw in a couple of acoustic ones so that people can have a cig.”
After the acoustic part of the set which concluded with a mass sing-along to a rousing cover of Madness’ ‘It Must Be Love’, the full band returned to deliver a run of more recent material including ‘Are You In Love With A Notion?’, ‘Lose Control’ and ‘Modern Love’.
Courteeners at Heaton Park… amaze x ✨✨ pic.twitter.com/lqu7tu5KzI
— Molly Brewer (@moll_brewer) June 9, 2023
The band capped off the night by returning to ‘St. Jude’ with their biggest anthems ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ – which you can catch footage of below – and ‘What Took You So Long’, which cued mass singalongs and confetti cannons.
Speaking on the show coinciding with the album hitting platinum status in the UK, Fray told NME: “It was a total freak that the album hit platinum today, we got told just before we arrived here, to celebrate like this means the world, it’s our own backyard.”
“It’s pretty amazing and it’s a testament to about eight people who worked hard on it then and work hard on it now. Back in the day I might have been bullish but now I know how blessed we are and how lucky we are to be doing it.”
Fray also offered up a hint that a new album could be on the horizon, saying: “We’re going to celebrate and soak this up for the next couple of days I think and then, you know what, we’re going to finish a record which might end up being two, maybe even three.”
Courteeners’ Heaton Park setlist was:
‘Aftershow’
‘Kimberley’
‘Cavorting’
‘Acrylic’
‘Kings of the New Road’
‘If It Wasn’ For Me’
‘Please Don’t’
‘No You Didn’t, No You Don’t’
‘Fallowfield Hillbilly’
‘Bide Your Time’
‘That Kiss’
‘How Come’
‘Smiths Disco’
‘It Must Be Love’
‘Are You In Love With A Notion?’‘Lose Control’
‘Small Bones’
‘The 17th’
‘Hanging Off Your Cloud’
‘Modern Love’
‘Not Nineteen Forever’
‘What Took You So Long’
Reacting to the gig just after the show, couple Tim and Katie who had travelled from The Wirral for the show said: “We’ve been waiting for so long to see them and they didn’t disappoint, it’s been everything it promised to be, there’s so many bangers on that album.”
These thoughts were echoed by Polly from South Manchester. “It was excellent, the music was amazing, I’ve seen them countless times but to see them outdoors in that setting was incredible, I’ve been listening to ‘St. Jude’ since it came out, I grew up with that album, it’s just iconic.”
This marked the latest in a history of huge summer homecoming gigs for the band – with them famously playing Old Trafford back in 2021 (just has they had during an emotional show back in 2017, shortly after the Manchester Arena terror attack), and a previous Heaton Park show back in 2014.
Speak to NME earlier this year, Fray teased the follow-up to 2020’s ‘More.Again.Forever‘ with a wealth of new material that “will blow your fucking socks off“.
“I’ve not stopped writing and I’ve got lots of songs for different projects,” he said. “I’m working on stuff with the band all the time, but I’ve got about 40 songs that fall into different categories between ‘Courteeners’, ‘side project’ and ‘other’, stylistically.
“That’s quite nice as I’ve never had that before. I can’t say too much, but I’ve been really creative. I’ve got some fucking cool stuff that will blow your fucking socks off.”
Courteeners will now round off their summer with a final few festival dates including Isle Of Wight (June 16), Glastonbury (June 23) and Tramlines (July 22).