History hangs in the early Autumn air, as New Century, a venue born in 1963, yet reborn for 2022, hosts the 30th anniversary of The Charlatan’s sophomore release, Between 10th and 11th.
The follow up to the band’s number one debut Some Friendly, Between 10th and 11th was not exactly well received by the critics on its initial 1992 release. It reached 21 in the charts, and even in retrospect, was not packed with some of the band’s bigger hits.
Yet the subsequent 30 years for the band, at least musically, have been the epitome of longstanding success.
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Personal tragedies aside, the band has seen arena tours, festival headline slots, three number one albums and four era-spanning top ten singles. For the 800 aficionados packed into the newest addition to Manchester's ever growing stable of impressive live music venues, tonight therefore feels like a special one.
As the room’s 70s disco lights dim, the band bound on stage, heralded by an already rowdy crowd and head straight into the album’s opener I Don’t Want to See The Sights. Scratchy guitar, wobbly bass, lively hi-hats and a repetitive tambourine shimmer away. It’s this recipe which saw the band pigeon-holed as baggy throughout the nineties. Perhaps, in retrospect, unfairly.
Ignition and Page One follow in a similar vein. Martin Blunt’s trademark rumbling bass complimented perfectly by Mark Collins looping guitar lines. Frontman Tim Burgess’ youthful exuberance and onstage persona could be lifted directly from 1992. His crowd pleasing charisma bears no effect of the subsequent 30 years as he snakes about the stage, conducting the audience with his every move.
Tremolo Song steps things up further. Tony Rogers' keyboards, so central to the band’s sound, provide an intro that wouldn’t be out of place on a Hacienda dance floor. The crowd reacts accordingly.
The band canter through the album tracks at pace. Can’t Even Be Bothered, a tale of disappearing young love, is delivered by Burgess with an acerbic tongue. ‘I can’t even be bothered, shut your face anyway’. It prompts one to ponder how it must be for an artist to revisit these kinds of painful personal moments many years later, under the guise of nostalgic celebration.
Burgess seems to take it in his stride. ‘What’s next? What’s next?’ he asks of the crowd, with a knowing wink. And the band clatter into one of the band’s best known songs, and album centrepiece, Weirdo. ‘Most of the time of you are happy, you’re a weirdo’, an opening line which 30 years later hasn’t lost its charm.
Chewing Gum Weekend, (No One) Not Even The Rain and The End of Everything round things up and the band exit stage right. What follows almost feels like a different gig. A gap of around 10 minutes or more ensues, and the room waits in a hum of anticipation for the promised ‘greatest hits’.
They don’t disappoint. Favourites that book-end their career in the form of Then and Let The Good Times Be Never Ending get an outing. The latter sees Burgess lead the crowd in a good old fashioned clap-along.
And then the really big ones arrive. The triptych of singles from 1997’s number one album Tellin’ Stories take the roof off. North Country Boy sounds as fresh as ever, and One To Another with its rollicking, big-beat keyboards, is huge.
Traditional set closer Sproston Green brings things to a heady conclusion. Swirling hammond organs, wah-wah guitars and Burgess's shaman like vocals send the crowd off into the September mist. Never mind the history, long live The Charlatans.
SETLIST
I Don’t Want To See The Lights
Ignition
Page One
Tremolo Song
Can’t Even Be Bothered
Weirdo
Chewing Gum Weekend
(No One) Not Even the Rain
The End of Everything
Break
Let The Good Times Be Never Ending
Then
You’re So Pretty - We’re So Pretty
Oh! Vanity
Tellin’ Stories
North Country Boy
One to Another
Come Home Baby
Sproston Green
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