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The Courteeners brought some Mancunian magic to The Royal Albert Hall last night, as they took to the stage for their Teenage Cancer Trust show.
The charity’s annual week-long concert series has seen some huge names over the years from Ed Sheeran to Florence Welch. And 2023’s offering has been no different. Other acts at the iconic London venue this week include Wet Leg, Kasabian and Roger Daltry, who kickstarted the TCT shows with The Who in 2000, and has been the driving force ever since.
Teenage Cancer Trust is a charity that provides essential care and support to young people from the ages of 13-24 who have cancer.
“We were honoured to be asked to be a part of this,” Courteeners frontman Liam Fray told the lively London crowd.
“We turn up and do a show. But there’s a lot of people behind the scenes who do great work.”
The band, who hail from Middleton, Greater Manchester, and have lost none of their Northern swagger, played a 19-song set. They didn’t mess around, and gave us what we wanted – the hits.
The sound, particularly at the beginning, could have been better. Liam’s vocals were somewhat muffled, and there was more than a touch of pilot-talking-over-the-tannoy to them. At times it was like listening to a rock band through a sea shell.
But if there were issues, the crowd didn’t seem to care, forming mosh pits and crowd surfing with wild abandon.
“Thank you for celebrating 15 years of St Jude,” Liam said of their 2007 debut album, playing Cavorting and How Come.”
“This is a new one,” he joked, before Not Nineteen Forever, the band’s biggest hit to date.”
A four song acoustic section from Liam, with Yesterday, Today & Probably Tomorrow, as well as a cover of It Must Be Love, joined by the band’s incredibly talented female pianist, was a highlight, as was Modern Love, which saw bucket hats bob in the boxes and a single black umbrella dance it’s way to the front.
Ending on What Took You So Long? Liam urged fans to donate. And indeed despite sound issues, it brought us back to why we were all there in the first place – for the teens.
A great show for an even greater cause.
*For more information about Teenage Cancer Trust, and to donate, visit teenagecancertrust.org
