{"id":907,"date":"2010-05-17T05:35:52","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T04:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/blog\/?p=907"},"modified":"2010-05-17T05:35:52","modified_gmt":"2010-05-17T04:35:52","slug":"the-charlatans-perform-some-friendly-blackpool-empress-ballroom-15-may-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=907","title":{"rendered":"The Charlatans perform \u2018Some Friendly\u2019, Blackpool Empress Ballroom, 15 May 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

I should admit to a certain bias when it comes to seeing The Charlatans, this being my 19th<\/sup> time.\u00a0 <\/span>But they were a decade into their career before I caught on, when they made a giant indie disco of the 1999 Leeds Festival, so a whole gig from 1990\u2019s Some Friendly era is still a novelty.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was gothically-inclined in the late-80s, too snooty about baggy fans\u2019 flares to actually listen to the music, but these days it\u2019s Tim Burgess sporting drainpipes and dyed black hair.\u00a0 <\/span>The latter\u2019s handy face-covering qualities (also favoured by Cousin Itt) may have helped him earn his \u2018ever-youthful\u2019 tag but he\u2019s certainly channelling Peter Pan tonight; his svelte form complemented by that distinctive, reedy vocal which doesn\u2019t seem to have aged a day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rest of the band look more like the 40-somethings they are, albeit ones with fringes, but there\u2019s nothing pipe and slippers about their rendering of this early material.\u00a0 <\/span>Although the venue\u2019s less packed than I\u2019ve seen it, and the stage poorly lit, a live sound this layered and vibrant can\u2019t fail to pull the crowd straight in.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re Not Very Well and White Shirt kick-off the gig as successfully as the album, their signature organ sound as rousing as ever even without original keys-man Rob Collins (who died in 1996).\u00a0 <\/span>His replacement Tony Rogers kicks up a storm throughout the night, particularly on Then and time-honoured set-closer Sproston Green, which also ends Some Friendly.<\/span><\/p>\n

The impossibility of not closing with this song is solved by inserting a couple of interludes into the album\u2019s track-listing, to air related material.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus stand-alone single The Only One I Know, which didn\u2019t appear on the original LP, is shunted to a later interval, and instrumental 109 pt.2 superseded by a visit to 1991\u2019s Over Rising EP (including a soaring Way Up There dedicated to Collins).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not having been around for these early non-album releases I\u2019m unfamiliar with two or three tracks, but this is a rare treat at a Charlies gig and has almost no impact on my sense of involvement.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s what I love about this band: they may have been working a particular groove for two decades (with occasional detours into falsetto-funk and dub reggae), but it\u2019s a sound I can\u2019t help getting lost in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps Opportunity sounds slightly plodding, but almost every other song seems to have gained a little of the expansive psychedelia that\u2019s long enhanced Sproston Green live.\u00a0 <\/span>Each track feels re-energised, giving the whole gig a triumphant tone which helps compensate for the lack of inter-song chat – although given the anniversary premise I\u2019m surprised Tim has so little to say.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as we\u2019re heading for Sproston Green territory, The Only One I Know and accompanying rarities – including an elating version of Everything\u2019s Changed – bring the main set to a close.\u00a0 <\/span>There\u2019s no question of their not coming back of course, which they do with little-heard single Me In Time and second album favourite Can\u2019t Even Be Bothered, ahead of the grand finale.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen The Charlatans not end with Sproston Green, meaning I must have heard it live more than any other song, but, unlike The Cure\u2019s A Forest, the familiarity of the opening notes still makes my heart leap.\u00a0 <\/span>And tonight it\u2019s sensational: the prolonged outro\u2019s screaming organ riffs making me clench every muscle, screw-up my eyes and play air-keys on my thighs.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Reprising a classic album has become a good career-revival trick for bands of a certain vintage, and one I tend to avoid, but Some Friendly isn\u2019t The Charlatans\u2019 classic and this doesn\u2019t feel like a cash-in.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps because they\u2019ve never disappeared from my radar, or moved far from the core sound forged here, a set of this early material feels more like a \u2018special edition\u2019 gig than a nostalgia trip – and for those of us who missed the good ship Madchester it\u2019s a valuable second chance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jo Nightingale<\/span><\/p>\n

www.jonightingale.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I should admit to a certain bias when it comes to seeing The Charlatans, this being my 19th time.\u00a0 But they were a decade into their career before I caught on, when they made a giant indie disco of the 1999 Leeds Festival, so a whole gig from 1990\u2019s Some Friendly era is still a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Charlatans perform \u2018Some Friendly\u2019, Blackpool Empress Ballroom, 15 May 2010 - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=907\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Charlatans perform \u2018Some Friendly\u2019, Blackpool Empress Ballroom, 15 May 2010 - 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