CityLife

The Charlatans

IT’S safe to assume in their career spanning nearly two decades, The Charlatans have had fewer more unlikely settings for a gig.

Haydock Park Racecourse is a bizarre location for everyone’s favourite baggy survivors to play, yet after the evening’s racing The Charlatans take to the stage amongst a sea of discarded copies of the Racing Post and ripped up betting slips (including six of my own).

The crowd are a peculiar mix of those who have never been to a racecourse before and those who have never been to a Charlatans show before, giving the entire evening a peculiar atmosphere.

Yet for those with little concern in the after-event who would have been at Haydock anyway, The Charlatans are as good a bet as anyone to maintain interest.

Luckily, and predictably, the set is hit-heavy, as is par for the course with Charlatans shows these days.

This is good news for two reasons; with the exception of a purple patch in the late 1990s, Charlatans albums are largely underwhelming affairs, yet over the years they have proved to be a fantastic singles band, consistently knocking off indie-pop gems that have endured changing times and fashions to become fixed into Mancunian music history.

Vastly overrated

One to Another, an unruly How High, a strutting North Country Boy, even the vastly overrated The Only One I Know; they’re all dusted off and played with refreshing energy considering they’ve been playing these songs for seemingly forever.

One only needs to see the disparity between the level of reaction between the old and new to see why; Oh Vanity, despite being their best for aeons, is met with a collective shrug of the shoulders and a rush to the bar.

In these moments, Tim Burgess is charismatic enough to hold up the lulls in the set.

His voice has never been great, but since kicking the drugs a couple of years ago, he is singing better than ever, and The Charlatans would not be half the band they are without one of Manchester’s most iconic frontmen.

Yet despite all things being in place, this was a surprisingly low-key gig.

The poor sound didn’t help, but as Charlatans shows go, this was merely perfunctory.

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