Courteeners

Manchester's Courteeners both look and sound as though they've come straight out of another time and place, and yet, somehow, are bang up to date. Think Babyshambles meets The Smiths and you'll be somewhere close to their gritty, electrifying sound.

The band, who have been friends since childhood, have grown into one of the UK’s premier guitar bands delivering such era-defining anthems as ‘Not Nineteen Forever’, ‘Are You in Love with a Notion’, ‘How Good It Was’, ‘The 17th’ and last year’s ‘Hanging Off Your Cloud’.

With an original mixture of ska, pop, punk and blues, all tied up with insanely catchy melodies. The band have consolidated their critical and commercial acclaim with numerous Top 10 albums and a slew of hit singles to boot.

Seb Lowe provides something to believe in. His songs target their righteous anger at hefty topics such as inequality, misogyny and the rise of the far-right, often engaging hearts and minds by infusing them with a scathing sense of satire and a savage wit. His contemporary take on the tradition of the protest song blends its timelessness with a contemporary indie-folk style, yet it is connecting with a huge Gen Z audience online - see 6 million+ streams a month and 630,000 followers at TikTok for evidence. That following translates to the live arena - the audiences are consistently passionate and intense, while the size of the shows scales up with every fresh tour.