How High? Extremely high!
"Be my spiderwoman, I'll be your spiderman."
Its another Summer where your friendly neighbourhood webslinger is back at the back office and it appears as though our friendly neighbourhood baggy survivors have returned as well. They may have dipped a little in recent years but on this showing, the band may be back to their snarling best and given the adversity they've battled through before, theres no probably surprise in them doing it all again.
For starters, front man Tim Burgess is managing to look younger than ever, which frankly is just not on. With a voice that was in fine fettle and a triumphant swagger to his stage presence, there was no way that Mr Burgess would be swayed from the fact that the band don't belong on the main stage anymore.
At a festival when the sun is starting to dip and the alcohol is starting to take hold, the need for a communal singsong can sometimes surface and with the arsenal that the band unleashed, there wasn't a set of vocal chords that weren't straining along, belting out every chorus to some of the biggest Indie anthems of the past few decades. It may have escaped your notice but this new craze that's sweeping the nation, you know, Indie music...well its been around for a rather long time. Then again, its obvious that girl has made some more damaging comments in the past week than that one so the nation may not hold her musical ignorance against her.
Amongst the standard genuine beauties like 'North Country Boy' or 'The Only One I Know', the relatively recent 'Blackened Blue Eyes' turned out to be far better than remembered. With a hook and a melody that was subtly brilliant but instantly memorable, its certainly going to get this reviewer re-appraising that album, so perhaps The Charlatans haven't dipped as much as that.
Then again though, very little beats the passionate bounce of 'Love Is The Key' and the organ led charge of this was a highlight, in a set of many strong contenders.
They've been written off more times than anyone could even care to remember but its apparent that The Charlatans are not quitters and they aren't going to start now.