Watch Courtney Barnett Perform Reflective Track ‘Before You Gotta Go’ on ‘Colbert’

Courtney Barnett stopped by The Late Show to perform her song “Before You Gotta Go.” Appearing with her band, Barnett showcased the mid-tempo track in front of video backdrops with projected scenes of nature.

“Before You Gotta Go” comes off Barnett’s most recent LP, Things Take Time, Take Time, released last year via Mom + Pop. Barnett told Rolling Stone that the album is about finding “some sort of joy and gratitude, out of some sort of pain and sadness.”

“On the one hand, nothing was happening to me last year,” she said. “But at the same time, so much was happening! There’s that lyric in ‘Turning Green’ about flowers in the weeds — as in, finding beauty in a place where you least expect it. That’s my ongoing lesson for myself.”

Earlier this month, Barnett released Anonymous Club, a documentary/tour diary helmed by Danny Cohen. Shot on 16mm film over a three-year period, the film follows the Melbourne musician’s ups and downs on the world tour for her album Tell Me How You Really Feel.


Barnett is currently gearing up for her “Here and There” touring festival, which will feature a rotating line-up in August and September. The musician will take the one-day, one-stage festival to 15 locations around North America, where she will be joined by acts such as Japanese Breakfast, Wet Leg, Chicano Batman, and Sleater-Kinney on different stops of the trek. The tour kicks off Aug. 8 in Kansas City, MO.