The Charlatans, Wolverhampton Civic - review
The Charlatans fired up the Hammond organ and swaggered back into the Black Country for, as frontman Tim Burgess put it, 'a Friday night special in Wolverhampton.'
And special it was - if Wolverhampton council thought they may need a new roof on the Civic before, they certainly do now, as it was well and truly raised.
The four piece blasted through some of their most loved tunes with a sprinkling of new material from new album Different Days.
And despite the teeth-chattering temperatures, fans were happy to turn out to see their old favourites and party like it was 1999 at the North Street venue last night.
After hearing from support acts Average Sex Band and Cabbage it was straight into the main event with the now blonde mop top of Burgess bouncing onto stage ready to go.
It was the second song of the night that had people running in from the bar - obligatory pints of Red Stripe in hand (this is the Civic after all) - Just When You're Thinking Things Over, from my personal favourite album of theirs, the self-titled The Charlatans from 1995.
The band were sounding solid and Burgess - for whom age is but a number (he's 50) - was dancing like he was back in the early Baggy scene. He clearly has a love for Wolverhampton and was tweeting regularly in the build-up to the show and afterwards - marvelling at the jacuzzi in the backstage area and pondering whether Robert Plant had used it before.
With - at times - blinding backdrops (remind me to bring my sunglasses next time Tim), the band ripped through the evening with other highlights being Different Days, Emilie, Tellin' Stories and of course, The Only One I Know - by which time the front of the hall was rocking with people on shoulders and plastic cups flying through the air.
And when it was all over Burgess went from behind the mic to behind the DJ decks to keep everyone dancing until around midnight.
What a guy! What a band! Let the good times be never ending.
