Glastonbury 2023: Courteeners talk about the festival’s history
This year, the Courteeners returned to the latest edition of the Glastonbury Festival and delivered a strong performance. Having acquired the status of festival veterans now, their set garnered praise from those in attendance as well as audiences watching from home.
Despite having to compete with the Foo Fighters’ secret set, the Courteeners drew a sizeable crowd to their early evening gig. After their performance, frontman Liam Fray opened up about the festival’s history and upcoming albums in an interview.
He said: “Eighth time lucky, it was pretty special. That was the most nervous I’ve ever been for a show. But people just want to come and sing some songs with you and have a good time. Isn’t that mad? The stress can be running around your mind, but when you break it down, isn’t it nice? People in a field singing your songs. Fucking great.”
“The excitement of the people coming here is palpable. These gigs are 99 per cent of our lives, but you realise that your set is less than one per of this whole thing,” Fray added. “We’re enjoying the longevity thing – we weren’t cool in the first place, we’re not cool now, there’s no pedestal.”
The musician also revealed that he has already set his sights on two new albums following the Glastonbury gig, hoping to capitalise on the creative freedom they have acquired over the years.
Fray explained: “We have the time to be afforded the chance to do anything we fucking want. I mean that in the freest sense. Nobody has ever given us any constraints; that’s just me being conservative about what people really want.”
He continued: “I want to do two albums. One is fun, and the other is piano, drum machines, a bit moodier. Don’t expect any hits off that one, but I know what will happen – they’ll be the hits, and no one will give a fuck about the ones that I think are good. The ones that are sleepers will be loved. But also, who cares? I love that idea from tonight of feeling so insignificant as part of Glastonbury. I’m going to try and transfer that to the rest of my life.”
Watch their performance below.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.