Close to 14 years on from her first live performance, Courtney Barnett has unveiled a live music experience and archive which collects and details the entirety of her live appearances.
Initially conceived as a way to give Barnett’s fans a way to experience her live performances during a year in which onstage appearances were temporarily a thing of the past, it was during the creation process that things began to expand to greater levels.
Taking inspiration from the legendary archives from the likes of Neil Young and The Grateful Dead, the website is a comprehensive capsule of Barnett’s touring history. Ranging from her first show at an open mic night at Hobart’s Lark Distillery in July of 2007, it collects information from close to 800 live shows – ranging from solo shows to full-band events – and goes deeper than many would expect, with intimate promotional events slotting neatly alongside headline dates at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre and London’s Brixton Academy.
In addition to serving as a trove of information, the site also includes never-before-heard desk-mixes, live television performances, and specially commissioned show-posters, with fans also asked to contribute any information about live shows that might be missing from the site.
To celebrate the live experience’s launch, Barnett has also shared a full concert from her only full band show in 2020. Aptly-titled Live at the Corner Hotel, the performance was shot and edited by Natalie van den Dungen and mixed by Lara Soulio, and sees Barnett at her furious best, with a visceral feeling of emotion on display at a venue which was – at the time – drenched in bushfire smoke.
“At the beginning of 2020 Australia was in the midst of its largest ever bushfire crisis,” a statement at the beginning of the performance notes. “We felt afraid, overwhelmed and angry.”
The Courtney Barnett live music archive is online now, while footage of her 2020 Corner Hotel performance is available on the site.
