Courteeners have shared a new live version of ‘Sweet Surrender’, recorded at their arena show in Manchester last year. Listen below.
- READ MORE: Courteeners tell us about ‘Pink Cactus Café’: “If a Mancunian joined Haim, what would it sound like?”
The original recording of the track (featuring Brooke Combe) serves as the opener of the band’s seventh and latest studio album, ‘Pink Cactus Café’, which was released in October last year.
Liam Fray and co. played at the Co-op Live in their hometown the following month, as part of their 2024 UK arena tour in support of the record. They kicked off the gig with a rendition of ‘Sweet Surrender’, which has been released as a live single today (Thursday October 23).
The euphoric and energetic recording comes shortly after Courteeners announced a huge live return to Manchester next summer. They’ll play a massive outdoor gig at the city’s Wythenshawe Park with a host of special guests, including The Vaccines.
Listen to Courteeners’ ‘Sweet Surrender (Live At Co-op Live, Manchester)’ here:
In a four-star review of ‘Pink Cactus Café’, NME wrote: “Opener ‘Sweet Surrender’ leans into a fully sun-scorched ‘Screamadelica’ groove as Fray lays down some Guy Garvey-esque portrayals of ‘another rottweiler in the bar‘ and ‘a cockroach in the cubicle‘, painting poetry onto the streets of Manchester. Rising Scottish soul artist and regular Courteeners support act Brooke Combe, meanwhile, lays down acoustic guitar with the chugging of a runaway train.”
Ahead of their Co-op Live performance last year, Courteeners played a massive concert at Manchester’s Heaton Park in the summer of 2023. Here, the band showcased their debut 2008 album ‘St. Jude’ in full in front of a 50,000-strong crowd to mark its 15th anniversary. A celebratory reissue had earlier gone to Number One in the UK.
Tickets for Courteeners’ upcoming Manchester show go on general sale at 10am BST tomorrow (Friday October 24) – you’ll be able to buy yours here. £1 from each ticket sold will go directly to the Music Venue Trust to support new artists on tour, and invest in the future of live music.
Joining Courteeners and The Vaccines on the day will be The Coral, Getdown Services and Girl In The Year Above.
Speaking to NME about ‘Pink Cactus Café last year, frontman Fray explained: “It’s got a bit of Haim in there, the shuffle and the middle eight. But then it’s still very Manchester: ‘Take me out for a knockabout/ Against the wall of the time hole‘. If a Mancunian joined Haim, what would it sound like? Maybe that’s it! That chorus [of ‘Weekend Shy Of A Feeling’] is so euphoric.”
In other news, Fray helped to launch a new Abbey Road-designed studio for up-and-coming grassroots musicians in Manchester earlier this year.
