There was no mistaking the excitement in Metro Theatre ahead of Courteeners‘ headline show, and the air was thick with a cacophony of British accents. Fresh off their Yours and Owls Festival set the weekend prior, Courteeners were primed to deliver the kind of night their fans had come to expect, anthemic and unrelentingly joyous.
Opening the night was Biig Time, the new project from Johnny Took of DMA’s and his brother Matty Took of PLANET. Only their third-ever gig together, they arrived with a touch of nervous energy but soon found their stride as the crowd packed in, swaying along to their set. The anticipation in the room built steadily, helped along by a pre-show playlist stacked with indie staples like Two Door Cinema Club, keeping spirits high. When Oasis’ ‘Morning Glory’ burst through the speakers, the audience drowned it out in a full choir.
Liam Fray took to the stage, grinning ear to ear as Courteeners launched into ‘Are You in Love With a Notion?’, instantly sending the crowd into a frenzy. The band tore through a setlist stacked with indie gold – ‘No You Didn’t, No You Don’t’, ‘Pink Cactus Café’ – each song met with arms outstretched, lyrics screamed back in unison. The sheer force of the crowd turned Metro’s standing room into a full-blown mosh pit, and while Courteeners’ sound is rooted in indie and Britpop, it was absolutely thrilling to see the gig carry the same unhinged energy as a football match.
Fray held the spotlight effortlessly, stripping things back for an acoustic moment featuring ‘It Must Be Love’ (Labi Siffre cover), ‘Please Don’t’, and ‘Smiths Disco’, his voice carrying the weight of nostalgia and sentimentality. But the night wasn’t over yet. For the encore, Tommy O’Dell from DMA’s joined the band on stage to perform their latest release, ‘The Beginning of the End’, before Courteeners closed out with the millennial anthems that have made them household names – ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ and ‘What Took You So Long?’
The floor was left beer-soaked, voices hoarse, and every inch of space inside Metro drenched in the kind of euphoria only a night like this could bring. For a couple of hours, Metro Theatre wasn’t in Sydney – it was a packed-out Manchester venue, a sign that Courteeners’ anthems hit so deep, no matter how far from home they land.
