A few years ago, The Charlatans lived beneath the shadow of fellow Mancunians The Stone Roses, and it didn't stop them from topping the charts; today, they're under the even bigger shadow of Oasis, and once again they're basking in the brilliant light of chart success.
The Charlatans shuffled onstage on Tuesday night to the resounding riff of With No Shoes, and by the time they'd finished North Country Boy, singer Tim Burgess had the crowd firmly tucked into his hip pocket. Then the band proceeded to throw a giant inflatable pig into the works with what sounded suspiciously like a Pink Floyd song (Sean, from the Meddle album, if I'm not mistaken) before resuming with the latest single, Telling Stories, a tune which already sounds like an American FM classic from an alternative universe.
Just When You're Thinking Things Over and Just Lookin' peered back into the band's recent past, but when One To Another began cranking up the crowd went mad for it. Guitarist Mark Collins kept some solid, repeating guitar lines, sounding mercifully unlike Noel Gallagher, while touring keyboard player Tony Rogers, who joined the band following the tragic death of Rob Collins last year, laid down some nice rolling organ stops and starts.
You're A Big Girl Now strode on a stomping beat and a strident acoustic guitar, but Weirdo and Can't Get Out Of Bed relied only on their inherent rock 'n' roll cool. It just needed an encore of How High to show how far The Charlatans have come in the last seven years, but it also required a replay of Sproston Green to remind us just how baggy the band used to be.
