The Charlatans at Paisley Town Hall, 13/10/08

13th October 2008 - The Charlatans at Paisley Town Hall

A Monday night isn't usually the best night of the week for live gigs, but this was a little different, in more ways than one. The Charlatans, one of my all-time favourite bands, were in town. Well OK, not quite in town, but pretty close. Paisley Town Hall to be precise.

My girlfriend Lynn and I drove over, arriving at the venue for the back of 8 o'clock. In plenty of time for me to get a beer and catch most of the support act, the rather good The Ruling Class. With loads of reverb and a sound that is a cross between early Charlatans and Roses, they went down quite well.

Paisley Town Hall is a beautiful old venue with standing downstairs and a balcony around the hall with seats. Tim Burgess was in the seats watching the support act and he got up quite a few times to have a dance to some of their tunes.

 After a couple more beers The Charlatans took to the stage and launched into the title track of their current album 'You Cross My Path'. The sound was fantastic and the band clearly looked like they were enjoying playing new and smaller venues. Their was barely any let up in the set that went straight into 'Weirdo'  and included one run of songs that many bands would die for - 'The Only One I Know', 'Soul-Saver', Oh Vanity!' and 'One To Another'. Add in songs like 'Crashin' In', 'How High' and 'Sproston Green' and you have an excellent set.