Courtney Barnett
Where Else?, Margate, Kent
2nd April 2026
Courtney Barnett, fresh from her recent headline set at the BBC6 Music Festival in Manchester, brought her brief Creature Of Habit UK Tour to Margate. Where Else?, on the South-East Kent coast, was lucky enough to follow Sunderland, Hebden Bridge and Bedford as Barnett closed out her five dates with a “very sold-out” show.
In contrast to her Manchester appearance there were no television cameras, no soft-tailored white suit and no support act either. Courtney, ahead of a big tour of her adopted homeland of the United States, concluded her UK dates with a more low-key finale to promote her fourth album.
Barnett squeezed through the packed crowd to take to the Where Else? stage just after 8pm for a 65 minute, 14-track set that covered all the bases. Supping on a mug of hot water throughout, Barnett, bassist Bones Sloane and (Warpaint) drummer Stella Mozgawa played seven of the ten tracks from her latest release as well as a smattering of her greatest hits.
Barnett, Bones and Mozgawa began with the opening track, and first single to be released from Creature Of Habit – Stay In Your Lane. The October single heralded a welcome and strong return for Barnett after a five year gap since her last full studio album, Things Take Time, Take Time. The fitting introduction to the album made for great start to the night as Barnett got into her stride from the off.
Avant Gardener from Barnett’s 2013 double EP – A Sea Of Split Peas, possibly her biggest track to date, followed with her introducing the track as though the audience might not know it. There was no fear of that, for this, or that matter any of the songs she played in the tightly packed basement of the Margate venue.
The second and third singles from COH, Site Unseen and Mantis, followed in quick succession with Barnett occasionally venturing from behind the mic stand situated on the left of the stage to occupy the middle ground and showcase her extremely deft guitar work. After fourteen years in the limelight, Barnett’s performance was more unassuming than bombastic, and all the more genuine for it to be honest.
“We Love you” came the shout from the audience. Barnett nearly had time to reply “I love….” but someone interrupted and said, “You’re alright”. Barnett grinned as she tuned her guitar and pointed to them as she repeated back, “You’re alright…I’m very happy you’re all here, thank you, thanks for coming down. I’ve lost my voice a little bit but here we are, here we f**king are. So any singing, any singing along is greatly appreciated, especially those high notes that my voice cracks on. So in saying that here’s a beautiful song where my voice is just on display. Just all alone and vulnerable. This song is called Depreston.”
Barnett’s lyrical dexterity shone through as she sang out – “We don’t have to be around all these coffee shops, Now we’ve got that percolator, Never made a latte greater, I’m savin’ 23 dollars a week” with minimal backing and a chance for a crowd sing-a-long. Three more new tracks followed, slipping into the setlist with ease as she showcased her latest album with Great Advice, Sugar Plum and recently released single, One Thing At A Time.
Nearing the end of the succinct set, Courtney turned the intensity down a notch with a sombre and subdued performance of Mostly Patient before whipping up the crowd into a sweaty frenzy with a full throttle, no holds barred version of Pedestrian At Best. The mosh pit went berserk for the first time in the evening as Barnett and co delivered a grungy and glorious anthem of epic proportions.
Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party wrapped up the set leaving everyone in agreement that they’d been very fortunate to attend this end of tour party in the intimate surroundings of Margate’s Where Else? Barnett may have confessed to losing her voice slightly, but it mattered little as she delighted her fans in a venue where everyone was able to appreciate her up close.
~
You can find Courtney Barnett online here: she’s also on Facebook and Instagram
All words by Andrew Lockwood. More writing by Andrew Lockwood can be found at his author’s archive
All photos by Aaron Thompson. AMP Photography
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