2nd November at Circuit, Kingston
The release of The Charlatans 14th studio album We Are Love brought them to preview their new songs here at Circuit.
Opening with the album title track and latest single, We Are Love gives a taste of new songs to come. Then we are straight into an oldie, Weirdo, the favourite Charlatans song in the US, apparently.
The next song is a real treat, the live debut of For The Girls, with Tim joining in with a very cool black electric guitar. A new song with a familiar Charlatans sound. Launching straight into audience favourite North Country Boy, with the entire audience singing along.
A surprising old song next, Toothache, an album track from The Charlatans album, which sounds absolutely fantastic. We are pulled back to the present with a couple more new songs, including Tim on acoustic guitar for Many A Day a Heartache. It looked like the lyrics for Deeper & Deeper were taped to the floor of the stage.
Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over sounded magnificent. There’s something special about singing “I’m coming home” while your favourite band is playing in your hometown.
Another new one, Glad You Grabbed Me, followed by the classic One To Another. Crowd going crazy for it. The band disappear off stage and return for an encore a few minutes later. But they surprise us by deviating from the set list. They kick off with Then, which was beautiful, almost haunting, and follow this with Let The Good Times Be Never Ending. I missed Sproston Green – has a Charlatans gig even ended without it? – but “Good Times” was a fantastic closing song, leaving the crowd wanting more.
Absolutely sensational performance, I loved every moment. Great mix of songs, old and new, but all fantastic.
They must have enjoyed it too, the next day they announced that they would be back next month for a warm-up gig for their forthcoming December UK tour!
Blue Roses Fanzine 2.0 