aaamusic | On 11, Nov 2010

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Rome, 30th October

The venue is full on this warm Saturday night, five hundred people and a bad smell of sweat, but it’s normal, it should be winter, but there are 20 degrees. Apart from weather conditions, I’m curious to listen to this live performance and to hear what people think about the new album. Opinions are contrasting, two guys say that it’s not so good, others praise the new single Love is Ending, so let’s see what The Charlatans can offer to the audience.

The kick off couldn’t be better, Then let people go back to the past, at the very begin of their career, started exactly twenty years ago with Some Friendly. It is like they wanted to say “Hey, do you remember who we are?” and the effect is surprisingly, the audience shout and sing along one the best track of their discography.

Tim Burgess looks like a guru come to spread his belief, long hair with fringe and the microphone handed upon his head, he sings with the usual soft and a bit mournful voice, he’s very charismatic.

Also I appreciate the band, they perform very well trying to reproduce the wrapping sound you can listen in the studio version, in particular the keyboardist play the organ perfectly choosing the right sound and giving tracks a brighter light.

Their set includes a lot of great successes, The only one I know as well, which arouse the enthusiasm of the audience who sing and dance. Weirdo and Can’t Get Out Of Bed, the second and third track respectively, have a great impact and impress who doesn’t know very well The Charlatans music, even because the band is spectacular, as I said before.

Indeed new songs are bit weaker compared to their classic, they lost the electro darkness, the gloomy atmospheres, the have become melancholic, but not with the melancholy of 90s.

Maybe they realized that new songs are not so strong, in fact they showcased only a half album, performing the two singles,  Love is ending (as encore) and My foolish pride, that is delightful, but Blackened Blue Eyes is another thing, the arrangement with the hammering piano give the tune a tension that can be cut with a knife.

This is the end is the right song to close the gig, maybe it was predictable, but people are happy when their expectations are satisfied.

In the end people welcomed the band very warmly but I could hear the difference between how they took in the new album confirming that it is not so remarkable, anyway I still think that they are one of the best indie band born in Nineties, their class is undeniable.

Author: Roberta Capuano

Photos: Simone Cecchetti