I wasn't intending to write a blog on last nights Charlatans show in a Big Tent at Queens Park. After so many years, what is there left to say? April was the 30th anniversary of me seeing the band for the first time. I don't know how many times I must have seen them over the years. Maybe 40 times? At least once a year probably, sometimes more.
There would be years where I'd probably catch them 4 times. Glasgow (twice), Edinburgh and at good old T in the Park where they appeared more years than they didn't.
The Charlatans lifted me last night and so I find myself suitably inspired to write a review over breakfast.
What inspired me?
Well the setting was pretty cool. A big old tent (possibly the old King Tuts T in the Park tent dusted down from being stored somewhere) on the far side of Queens Park. The Waterboys had used it on Friday night and Mogwai on Saturday. Could this be a new weekend fixture in the Scottish music calendar?
However, it was the band that lifted and inspired me. Coming on stage at 8.45pm sharp to a huge ovation, Tim, Mark, Martin, Tony and Pete played a superb set that really took the crowd on a trip.
They really mixed it up, opening with the beautiful and shimmering Then, before a blast of power pop in the shape of Can't Get Out Of Bed, then the dreamy So Oh, followed by a euphoric Crashin' In. Four very different songs stretching from 1990 to 2014.
Photo by Tim Burgess
Toothache was a real dirty groove while North Country Boy really got the crowd going, everyone was singing with their hands in the air, punching the sky for the hook. Tim kept it going with Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over, which was one of my songs of the night.
Introducing My Beautiful Friend, Tim said sometimes we play it, sometime we don't, sometimes we play it, sometimes we don't. It was a little comedown after the high of the previous two songs, but again, it showed a different side to the band.
We were back on a high as the intro to One To Another kicked in and the tent erupted. Then we were into the blissed out psychedelic groove of Opportunity from debut album Some Friendly. Martin Blunt on bass was outstanding.
Images and old video footage flashed up on the big screen behind the band. I hope they are uploaded to YouTube. There was particularly cool footage of a young Charlatans going for it in an old loft/warehouse with Tim in stripey T-shirt with that incredible haircut he had at the time.
Weirdo was another huge song that got people dancing, Soul Saver was a very welcome surprise, Blackened Blue Eyes was powerful and pure - we all need a shoulder to cry on once in a while.
Come Home Baby has such an uplifting chorus and then it was The Only One I Know with an extended intro to allow Tim to take it all in. My friend and I put on an indie night in May and I played this, the dancefloor went crazy and the tent went nuts last night. The chorus is euphoric yet also beautifully melancholic and I appreciate it more with every passing year.
Everyone has been burned before
Everybody knows the pain
Very mature words for a young Tim Burgess to be writing back then. Timeless. A song that keeps on giving.
Tim's view for The Only One I Know
I had been expecting/hoping for How High in the encore, so my only slight disappointment in the night/setlist was that we had You're So Pretty to kick it off. Perhaps Love Is They Key from the Wonderland album would been better for the occasion.
But hey, we all knew where this was going ... we were all going to Sproston Green and we were all aboard. The long intro that builds and builds into a glorious groove and then BOOM
This one knows, she comes and goes
And when she goes, she goes
We were near the front, but now we were right in the mix, bouncing around in delight. What a song, what a band. I hope they come back to Glasgow again before too long.
And I'm still hoping for a Kelvingrove Bandstand date (or two). Maybe next year?
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