After a rather lengthy introduction incorporating a light show worthy of Pink Floyd's kids' band, dry ice and some excitement inducing music, frontman Tim Burgess slithers onto the stage. The crowd cheer their hungry cheers, Burgess squeaks out a modest "Hello" and they burst into 'You Cross My Path', title track and single from their latest album. So far things are going well; this is a nice slice of guitar band composition although nothing special. The keyboardist has each hand on a separate synth, the guitarist has a strong and dominating stance locked in, the bassist is hidden from view (what kind of a bassist would he be if he wasn't?!) and Burgess is in full Liam Gallagher form in front of his mic.
But things begin to heat up when they break into the first 'classic' of the evening with their 1992 second album single, 'Weirdo'. The Hammond is brought out and sounds as great as ever, yet again my oversized notepad becomes an unfortunate hindrance as I reside to tap my feet as aggressively as I can. Burgess' stage presence here is enchanting as he slaloms up and down as if being charmed by an invisible piper. This is the kind of guy you would beg to sing for your band, simply for his dancing. He gets up to such antics as bending down and staring the crowd in their collective face as he sings the latest album's 'Bad Days', attempting to get on top of the monitor before deciding against it after feedback mocks him ('Judas') and eventually getting up there and wiggling his unique wiggle for the majority of classic first album single, 'The Only One I Know'.
As is to be expected from a tour in support of their latest album, 'You Cross My Path', the majority of the set is taken up by tracks off this album with sporadic flairs with their early and mid-career stuff. Incidentally these are the tracks that got the best crowd reactions with particular favourites mainly being early singles such as 'Then' (sporting an excellent organ solo as it reaches its climax of extremely intoxicated middle-aged men shouting "GO ON!" at them), previously mentioned 'The Only One I Know' with it's monitor dancing tomfoolery and fifth album release, 'How High'.
However, not being a particular fan of The Charlatans and not having an extensive knowledge of their back catalogue I found myself wanting for something more interesting. Every song began with its own distinct personality but it wasn't long until it sunk into a traditional indie arrangement that became indistinguishable from the majority of the set. Deviations from the normal sound include the latest album's 'My Name is Despair' with its build-up attitude, vocal delay effect and sparse chiming from everything except the drums and vocals. The crowd isn't too hot on this one but while they were here for a rock concert it was a nice change for me. This was directly followed by 2001 single 'A Man Needs To Be Told,/i>' which had an almost drum and bass beat and a modest slow-mo guitar solo with one of the most stellar outros of the night.
In conclusion, the band played extremely well, and Burgess kept his slithery dance going strong from song one to the end (and it was a fairly large set), the only problem really is the setlist with an overflow of new songs, each tinged with that horrible feeling of Déjà vu. Of course, this is what you expect from a tour in support of the new album, but speaking to fans outside the venue while having a smoke the general consensus seemed to be "not as good as '96", and while I can't comment on that, at least I'm not alone in thinking this gig to be very hit and miss.
article by: Lee Tyrrell
photos by: Gary Stafford
published: 08/10/2008 14:39
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