Courtney Barnett is an Australian singer songwriter and musician from Melbourne who first released work in 2013, an EP, with a first album in 2015. She is a clever lyricist and a phenomenal guitarist and I was aware of her music from her early output, really appreciating the craft of songs such as Pedestrian At Best, Dead Fox, Depreston but had never seen her live before. Similar artists are Wet Leg, Aldous Harding and Kurt Vile, with whom she released an album Lotta Sea Lice. She’s performed at multiple festivals including Glastonbury and Coachella.
Support was from Body Type, a female Australian punk band who seemed thrilled to be there and who have toured with many artists including Foo Fighters and Wolf Alice. They were a good support choice and the audience were very appreciative.
Courtney has released her latest album Creature of Habit in March this year and I was excited to hear it live.
A drummer and guitarist joined her on stage and they were all fantastic right from the start.
There were times they sounded like a much larger band and their enjoyment of what they were doing was obvious. Her guitar solos were absolutely stunning. Started off with a new album track, Stay in Your Lane and the rest was another 9 from the new album and some from about 4 of her other albums, a couple were done solo/acoustic which we loved. An encore of 4 more songs was hugely appreciated by the very energetic crowd, who danced all the way through the show.
I noticed a lack of talking in between songs which is often a bugbear of mine at concerts so it was appreciated how seamless the whole concert was as a result. Courtney does engage with her audience, but not at the expense of the music.
The event took place in the The Hall auditorium area, usually fully seated, but only the circle was seated and the arena downstairs had extended out into the huge exhibition space to create a massive venue which was filled in no time with a rapt and hugely appreciative audience. A real mix of ages represented too, plus I noticed very few mobile phones out during the performance, which was a pleasant surprise.
Staff at AVIVA were lovely and helpful, but the bar on floor 2 could have been better organised. It’s an interesting space and we noticed a lack of seating in the bar area which was a shame. Seats in the circle were extremely comfortable, if a little close together. Altogether a brilliant evening out watching some great musicians do their thing. 02 Forum Kentish Town is next for a couple of nights, followed by Australian dates.
Image Lindsey Byrnes
Christine Ince for Canal St Media