HUGH CORNWELL + THE COURETTES – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 16.11.25
The legendary former Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell is widely regarded as the poet laureate of the punk era and has been carrying the banner ever since via his solo career. A few months back he announced a select 10-date UK tour with his band, where they would be performing his 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album in its entirety, as well as “thankfully” some Stranglers choice cuts, as well as some solo delicacies. The tour is aptly titled ‘Come And Get Some Tour’ and the selected places were Norwich, Holmfirth, Liverpool, London, Coventry, Frome, Glasgow, Dunfermline, Newcastle and here in Brighton at the ever-popular Concorde 2 venue on Madeira Drive.
Interestingly, tonight’s Brighton concert falls on the exact date that the ‘Nosferatu’ album originally surfaced 46 years earlier, namely 16th November 1979. The album was a one-off album collaboration between Hugh Cornwell and Captain Beefheart drummer Robert Williams, who had met each other back in April 1978, when Hugh attended a trio of Beefheart shows in San Francisco, just after the Stranglers North American tour. They kept in touch and just before Christmas 1978 Cornwell invited Williams to record an album with him. The famed ‘Nosferatu’ film from back in 1922 had been a silent movie and so Cornwell decided to try to approximate an emotional soundtrack for it. The outcome was the 10 tunes contained on the LP. These being: ‘Nosferatu’ (1:43), ‘Losers In A Lost Land’ (4:27), ‘White Room’ (3:52), ‘Irate Caterpillar’ (5:00), ‘Rhythmic Itch’ (2:11), ‘Wired’ (3:05), ‘Big Bug’ (5:32), ‘Mothra’ (3:13), ‘Wrong Way Round’ (5:01), and ‘Puppets’ (2:33), giving a running time of 35 minutes.
I guess that with a quartet of Stranglers albums – ‘Rattus Norvegicus’ (1977), ‘No More Heroes’ (1977), ‘Black And White’ (1978) and ‘The Raven’ (1979) – under his belt, Hugh Cornwell thought that he had better try something new and indulge himself, especially as fellow bandmate Jean-Jacques Burnel’s debut solo album, ‘Euroman Cometh’ (which came out more than seven months prior and hit No.40 in the UK Album Charts) was out there for fans to enjoy. Despite ‘Nosferatu’ featuring several quality guest musicians including keyboardist Ian Underwood from Frank Zappa’s band, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh from Devo and Ian Dury (listed as “Duncan Poundcake”) as a fairground barker, as far as I can recall the record didn’t exactly dent the charts, and my Stranglers friends at the time, weren’t exactly raving about it! So it comes as a mystery to me why Hugh Cornwell has dug it up again.
There’s no Robert Williams in house this evening, but Hugh is joined by his trusty comrades of Windsor McGilvray on drums, backing vocals etc and Pat Hughes on bass and backing vocals. We are in their company for an impressive 99 minutes (from 9:13pm to 10:52pm) and in that time the trio offload no less than 24 tunes.
The trio, all clad in black, take to the stage and Hugh and Pat begin tuning their Fender Telecaster guitar and Fender Precision bass, whilst barefooted Windsor patiently waits behind his kit. You would have thought that this would have been done before they arrived! Whilst they are doing this the self-titled opener from ‘Nosferatu’ blasts out of the soundsystem. Maybe this is the point, that they need something to do whilst the backing track is playing? Who knows? Mind you, having seen tonight’s setlist, it is rather impressive to see that all of the songs I saw them perform on his previous recent encounters at the Concorde 2, have been ditched for another different set of tracks, which features some deeper Stranglers and solo material cuts. Clearly they are all accomplished musicians but will the material cut the mustard with yours truly and tonight’s punters?
The lads get down to business and tonight they elect to perform the whole of ‘Nosferatu’ in the correct playing order as part one of their set. The slow jerky ‘Losers In A Lost Land’; the choice cut and Cream cover ‘White Room’; the long introed and off-filter beats of ‘Irate Caterpillar’; followed by our first address of the evening, this simply being “Happy birthday ‘Nosferatu’”; The Fall-esque sounding ‘Rhythmic Itch’; followed by ‘Wired’ which sees the trio donning black leather caps for some reason; ‘Big Bug’ follows; then the quirky ‘Mothra’; then Pat dons a bowler hat and summoned his innermost Ian Dury for the Half Man Half Biscuit at a fairground sounding ‘Wrong Way Round’, and finally ‘Puppets’ which sees a couple of actual puppets raised up either side of Windsor by a lady at the edge of the stage. At 9:49pm the trio vacated the stage as ‘Nosferatu’ had been given its birthday runout. In all honesty, I found it underwhelming.
The PA sets into action for a couple of minutes until the guys return at 9:51pm minus all of their hats. With a “Ahhh 1-2-3-4” they were away with the more immediate ‘Sweden (All Quiet On The Eastern Front)’ a Stranglers song from their 1978 ‘Black And White’ album, which is followed by ‘Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit’ from Hugh’s 1997 ‘Guilty’ album. One of my Stranglers fan friends is with me this evening and he was particularly looking forward to the next tune, this being ‘Dead Loss Angeles’ from their 1979 ‘The Raven’ album, which Hugh himself introduced as one of his favourite Stranglers tunes. ‘Beauty On The Beach’ from 2004’s ‘Beyond Elysian Fields’ was up next and this inspired Hugh to quiz us as to where fish and ships was invented, on account of him having it for tea. The answer according to him is Cadiz in Spain.
We were briefly back in Stranglers territory for ‘Who Wants The World?’ with its solid drumming. After which we were quizzed again, this time it was what album that was from. The answer he said that it’s not from an album. Well I guess it might be if you include the 1980 ‘IV’ compilation record. Hugh then said that we were “a quiet bunch” and added a “library” reference, which I found uncanny as I had said exactly the same to my Stranglers mate in the two minute break about his ‘Nosferatu’ album. The reggae tinged title track from 2022’s ‘Moments Of Madness’ release came next, along with a ‘Radar Love’ Golden Earring riff. Another Stranglers deep cut is up next, ‘Souls’ from 1984’s ‘Aural Sculpture’, and after this Hugh introduces ‘I Want One Of Those’ from 2012’s ‘Totem And Taboo’ which is a swinging number.
Things picked up with the first few bars of the Stranglers ‘Duchess’ from 1979’s ‘The Raven’, which was greeted with some cheers from the punters. After ‘When I Was A Young Man’ off of ‘Moments Of Madness’, the clocks got turned back to 1977 for ‘Bring On The Nubiles’ from 1977’s ‘No More Heroes’ LP, which tonight had a whiff of The Kinks ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ about it. The final tune of the second set prior to the encore was ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In Hollywood’ from 2018’s ‘Monster’ album, which I can remember Hugh telling us at a previous gig that this was about “Hedy Lamarr”, he’s got a point you know!
The trio vacate the stage and the punters bellow for more and we are rewarded with three more songs. The first of which being the Stranglers classic ‘Golden Brown’ from 1981’s ‘La Folie’ album, which doesn’t really work as well without the keyboards, and this version was a tad sedate. There was some foot-pedal action for added echo for the Stranglers ‘Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’ from 1978’s ‘Black And White’ album. They signed off with ‘Bad Vibrations’ which is from his 2012 ‘Totem And Taboo’ release. With a “Thank you very much. Thank you for a lovely evening” from Hugh, they departed, with Hugh making a beeline to the merch stall…cue a long queue of folk eager to meet him and lighten their pockets. So how did they do? You’ll have to keep reading……..
Hugh Cornwell:
Hugh Cornwell – vocals, guitar
Windsor McGilvray – drums, drum pads, keys, laptop, backing vocals
Pat Hughes – bass, backing vocals
Hugh Cornwell setlist:
Set One:
(Intro) ‘Nosferatu’ (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Losers In A Lost Land’ (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘White Room’ (Cream cover) (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Irate Caterpillar’ (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Rhythmic Itch’ (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Wired’ (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Big Bug’ (Hugh Cornwell and Robert Williams song from 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Mothra’ (Hugh Cornwell and Robert Williams song from 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Wrong Way Round’ (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘Puppets’ (from Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
Set Two:
‘Sweden (All Quiet On The Eastern Front)’ (The Stranglers song from 1978 ‘Black And White’ album)
‘Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit’ (from 1997 ‘Guilty’ album)
‘Dead Loss Angeles’ (The Stranglers song from 1979 ‘The Raven’ album)
‘Beauty On The Beach’ (from 2004 ‘Beyond Elysian Fields’ album)
‘Who Wants The World?’ (The Stranglers song from 1980 ‘IV’ compilation album)
‘Moments Of Madness’ (from 2022 ‘Moments Of Madness’ album)
‘Souls’ (The Stranglers song from 1984 ‘Aural Sculpture’ album)
‘I Want One Of Those’ (from 2012 ‘Totem And Taboo’ album)
‘Duchess’ (The Stranglers song from 1979 ‘The Raven’ album) (found on 2006 Hugh Cornwell ‘People, Places, Pieces’ live album)
‘When I Was A Young Man’ (from 2022 ‘Moments Of Madness’ album)
‘Bring On The Nubiles’ (The Stranglers song from 1977 ‘No More Heroes’ album)
‘The Most Beautiful Girl In Hollywood’ (Hugh Cornwell song from 2018 ‘Monster’ album)
(encore)
‘Golden Brown’ (The Stranglers song from 1981 ‘La Folie’ album)
‘Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’ (from The Stranglers 1978 ‘Black And White’ album)
‘Bad Vibrations’ (Hugh Cornwell song from 2012 ‘Totem And Taboo’ album)
Special guests for the ‘Come And Get Some Tour’ are The Courettes, who are also known as ‘The Fabulous Courettes’. They are a husband and wife team-up of Martin and Flavia Couri, who operate as a guitar and drum duo a la White Stripes. The Courettes have amalgamated a unique blend of garage rock, doo-wop, blues and 60s pop that’s remained a strong component of their sound for the best part of a decade. We are in their company for a mere 53 minutes (from 7:58pm to 8:51pm) but in that time the husband and wife duo still manage to rattle off 14 tunes!
Thus far, I’ve been thwarted on a number of occasions in endeavouring to see this exciting Danish-Brazilian duo and now thankfully tonight is my turn, as we have reviewed them before, but that was with other members of the team! The duo are set up out the front of the stage this evening with their banner behind them which reads “The Fabulous Courettes”. They stroll on to their own tune as backing intro music, this being ‘Wall Of Pain’ from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album. Black and white is very much the dress of the day and they seriously look ready for business!
They kick off at 8:00pm on the dot and hubby Martin announces his better half as “The Queen of fuzz”. He knows which side his bread is buttered! Flavia is sporting, by the looks of it, her own custom-made guitar which reads “Fabia”, which I’m guessing is an adaptation of Fab guitars which are hand-crafted in Oostende in Belgium by Fabian Schweiger. Martin’s drumkit proudly boasts DRS drums, who are a bespoke Danish manufacturer, and he too shares vocal duties, but more backing than lead. Thankfully the venue is already relatively full and so the duo get to perform in front of a sizable crowd, who are mainly, like myself, of a mature persuasion.
They launch into ‘You Woo Me’ which is also found on last year’s ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album, and I immediately picked up on that retro 60’s rock vibe. ‘The Boy I Love’ is up next and this can be found on their 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album. It sounds like a better version of ‘The Loco-Motion’ made famous by Little Eva from 1962 and then by Kylie Minogue in 1987. I look around and note that they have already got a number of punters shakin’ their thang!
Martin then addressed the crowd with “Brighton we have arrived…all the way from Denmark and Brazil”. Meanwhile, Flavia is very bubbly and her enthusiasm is really infectious and I can see why previous reviewers and friends have been bigging them up! There’s copious amounts of cowboy western guitar twanginess throughout the set and none of their songs outstay their welcome, with virtually all coming in at around three minutes or less. These are a fun band, something which is reflected in their many different coloured vinyl record releases. The tunes come and go and I’m seriously wondering how on earth Hugh Cornwell is going to be able to better this!
Eight more corkers have been delivered and suddenly we find ourselves at ‘Boom! Dynamite’ from their ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album, and this tune has raised the stakes somewhat and those that are of a rockabilly and psychobilly persuasion would truly love this tune. Flavia is taking no prisoners and starts to point her guitar at the crowd like a gun, as she picks off the converted one by one. This is the best track thus far for me and it’s interestingly their longest to date. ‘Misfits & Freaks’ from the same record follows with its 60’s doo-wop vibe, and strangely enough it reminded me of Madrid based outfit Hinds.
Just when I didn’t think things could get any better, ‘Hop The Twig’ arrived and this has a killer guitar riff to die for, although it did actually remind me of Kenny Everett’s ‘Sid Snot’ character’s intro music. It’s here that, for me, things get a little confusing as the recorded version of this track comes in at 2:44, however, on tonight’s version it appears that it’s in two sections with the second half having the sound and intensity of the Sex Pistols ‘God Save The Queen’. During this part Flavia, not only vacates the stage for the crowd barrier, but is also hoisted aloft as she continues to play her guitar – impressive stuff!. This is either an amended version of the track or an unlisted song from the setlist, I’m going with the earlier!
Such is the excitement, that the duo leave the stage, but immediately return in order to offload two more tunes, with both of these coming from ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album, namely ‘Keep Dancing’, followed by ‘Shake!’. The duo take their bows and a couple of selfies with the crowd follow. It’s been a masterclass, and if I have to be brutally honest, they totally blew Hugh Cornwell out of the water!
The Courettes:
Flavia Couri – guitar and vocals
Martin Couri – drums and vocals
The Courettes setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘Wall Of Pain’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘You Woo Me’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘The Boy I Love’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘California’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Until You’re Mine’ (from 2021 ‘Back In Mono’ album)
‘Trash Can Honey’ (from 2021 ‘Back In Mono’ album)
‘Want You! Like A Cigarette’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Night Time (The Boy Of Mine)’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Tough Like That’ (from 2023 ‘Back In Mono B-Sides & Outtakes’ album)
‘Better Without You’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Boom! Dynamite’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Misfits & Freaks’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Hop The Twig’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
(encore)
‘Keep Dancing’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Shake!’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
Totally agree with your review of the Courettes – what a fabulous, fun band. Great to see live in small venues, and such lovely people when you meet them.
Thanks for your comment Mike.