The Charlatans, Roundhouse - music review: a triumph

This sold-out show had the crowd leaping about like it was 1990 again
Euphoric: leader singer Tim Burgess led the baggy-era dance moves (Picture: C Brandon/Redferns via Getty Images)
Andre Paine17 March 2015

The Charlatans have endured more than their fair share of tragedy. Keyboard player Rob Collins was killed in a car crash in 1996, following a brief prison spell in relation to an armed robbery. Drummer Jon Brookes succumbed to brain cancer, aged 44, in 2013.

In the wake of Brookes’s death, The Charlatans recorded an admirably uplifting record, Modern Nature, which is also their highest-charting album since 2001.

At this sold-out show the band seemed as solid as ever with The Verve’s Pete Salisbury on drums, while singer Tim Burgess, 47, was still remarkably youthful given his decade of drink and drugs (his 2012 memoir has a chapter titled Cocainus).

“It’s good to be here,” said Burgess, a nod to the Cheshire group’s refusal to give in as much as their visit to Camden for the final night of the tour. His air-punching and the band’s robust groove on Forever set the tone for a euphoric two-hour set.

The organ riff on 1992’s Weirdo roused this crowd of faithful fans, who took their cue from the baggy-era bobbing dance moves of Burgess. His vocal could be wayward though it was perfect for the urgent indie of North Country Boy, during which he bawled at the audience to “sing it!” — they did — while shaking his bizarre blond bowl-cut.

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High spirits were maintained when backing singers and a brass section joined in with the funk rhythm and clipped guitars of Let the Good Times Be Never Ending. The psychedelic visuals may have been a shoddy throwback but it hardly bothered the fans, who leaped around like it was 1990 during the swirling organ of The Only One I Know and the customary encore of Sproston Green.

Most bands have to split and reform years later to enjoy this kind of resurgence. The Charlatans have triumphed over tragedy for the second time in their 25-year career.

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