aaamusic | On 02, Jun 2010

[cincopa 10623975]

Rome, 22nd May

The Courteeners are the stars of another great night at Circolo degli Artisti, my favourite venue to listen to good indie – rock music in Rome!

It was a strange night, all the people were sat in the garden to watch the UEFA Champions League final match, between them I also noticed Liam and his bandmates watching the match together with their families, it was very sweet.

15 minutes from the end of the match I decided to go inside to stay in the front row, and surprisingly I found the opening act (not reported on the website) playing a song. It was a guitar and drums duo called Sadside Project.

Their sound is strong and heavy, with a rock basis, but also influenced by garage, blues and a little of folk, they have the power of creating with only three instruments (vocals included) a solid backdrop that doesn’t miss the bass. They were a good surprise.

But the crowd was waiting for Liam &co. There were a lot of English guys (apart from parents and relatives) who shouted their name, I think they felt like they were at home.

To note: they were introduced by Fire (yes, the Kasabian song) before they got hold the stage.

They kicked off with Acrylic, a perfect choice in my opinion, it has a great energy and people sang-along passionately. I love their Smiths style, Liam’s voice sounds similar to Morrissey’s and I have a soft spot for him.

The good times are calling made people dance, even if you can feel a bit of melancholy in Liam’s voice, the live arrangement is very similar to the studio version, that’s common to the whole set. The gig went on experiencing a darker tone with Will it be this way forever? introduced and supported by distorted guitar and strings that gave an epical allure. Please don’t went back to the first album style, I think it was less mature than Falcon, but it had a great energy played live, as Kings Of The New Road and Cavorting. I think is a strange choice playing three tunes from the old album in succession, but the audience seemed to appreciate, anyway they had an amazing impact, especially Cavorting, supported by beating drums and a drawing guitar riff.

I loved The opener both in the album version and live, with its crescendo “uuuuuuua”  involved people, Liam had a great charisma, especially when he didn’t play guitar, he could move on the stage, winked at audience smiling and blinking, but at the same time he knew how to be sensual, for example when he performed Cross my heart and hope to fly he had something erotic in his voice.

The last two songs before the encore were Scratch your name and Take over the world, a whip of energy created by feeling between bandmates and the wonderful guitars sound.

But people were waiting for the two greatest hits and the band couldn’t disappoint them, so after a short absence they returned to satisfy their desire to hear You Overdid it Doll and Not nineteen forever. That tunes set crowd on fire and everyone sang-along and danced, it was a cunning choice, it’s a good idea ending a gig with the two successful single, they leave a good taste in people’s mouth (or ears).

But the very last song was What took you so long, that sounds of Smiths and Manchester, two winning elements if associated to such a good band, The Courteeners got that magic ingredient necessary to enchant the audience when a band play on the stage.

Author: Roberta Capuano

Photos: courtesy of Simone Cecchetti