It doesn’t get much better than seeing one of your favourite bands in a small venue. As a warm up for their T in The Park and Benicassim festival appearances, on Friday night (July 11th) The Charlatans made that possible for 300 or so lucky fans at an intensely hot Brudenell Social Club in Leeds.
The Brudenell is a fantastic venue. It has great views from all angles, the sound is excellent and you can get a pint for just over £2. A proper pint too – none of this pouring a can of Carling into a pint pot and charging £4.50 for it. Well done all involved for sensible pricing.
The weather was boiling which meant the majority were drinking outside the venue in the sun whilst some tucked into some scran from the Charlatans themed pizza van. Chatting to those outside the venue people had made journeys from as far away as Inverness one way and London the other to get a piece of the action. And they weren’t to be disappointed.
Following some top tunes being spun by Wigan Young Boys the main support for the evening came from Nick Hodgson and Anna Goodal’s new band Albert Albert. Their melodic 60’s tinged tunes were pop with a punch and they’re definitely worth checking out. They proved to be a great warm up with ‘Work Hard’ a particular highlight.
The Charlatans emerged to rapturous applause and kicked straight into ‘You Cross My Path’ followed by debut single ‘Then’ which is still sounding as good today as it ever has. After ‘Oh Vanity’ it was a nice surprise to hear ‘Autograph’ get a run out. ‘Can’t Get Out Of Bed’ and ‘Jesus Hairdo’ followed making it an ‘Up To Our Hips’ triple. The classics continued with ‘Tellin Stories’ and ‘North Country Boy’ getting mass sing alongs as did the subsequent ‘Soul Saver’ and ‘Just When You’re Thinking Things Over’. Tim Burgess was at his charismatic best taking “selfies” with fans at the front and orchestrating the sing along.
2011’s ‘Bird’ was up next and sounded brilliant followed by ‘Weirdo’ and ‘Toothache’. It was then time for a new track to be aired. ‘Baby Huey’ has all the hallmarks of a Charlatans classic. It sounded as if it could have been taken from their self-titled 1995 album. Tony Rogers’s organs bold throughout and a trademark Charlatans groove. Check it out on the video below. The new album looks very promising on this form.
‘This Is The End’ and ‘One To Another’ rounded the set of before a raucous encore of ‘How High’ and standard set closer ‘Sproston Green’. A great night and one that certainly won’t be forgotten in a hurry. Roll on the new album.
Steven Aston
@gigslutz_steve