Bucket hats and Adidas were in every line of sight as I made my way towards the famous Castlefield Bowl. Yep, it’s that time of year again where Manchester’s best open air venue goes from a tranquil canal – side beauty spot to host a plethora of musical talent.
Tonight we have The Charlatans. I arrived just in time to catch support band Embrace who many fans were just as excited to see as the headliners. Embrace seem to have gotten better with age, mature indie with impressive vocals from enigmatic frontman Danny McNamara. The band were outstanding and I had honestly forgotten how many solid tracks this band have produced over the last twenty five years. They were the perfect starter for what was going to be an epic main course.
The Charlatan appeared on stage sans Burgess, who made a very cool entrance during ‘Forever’. Burgess always looks so cool, quirky, artsy and tonight he had the most amazing combination of clothing, a tailored jacket, and a statement jumper, sunglasses and leather look pants. It worked, he pulled it off and the crowd lapped it up.
‘This is a song for all the weirdos’ he announced as the band then launched into ‘Weirdo’. Having seen Tim both solo and with the band, he really has swagger when performing with a band around him and he was on beautiful form this evening, a joy to watch.
A song for ‘the lads’ was introduced next which emitted a large cheer from the crowd as the start of ‘North Country Boy’ kicked in. A train stopped momentarily on the viaduct and Tim stopped to wave to it, then Tim got his phone out and started to film the audience, many of whom were already filming him.
Mid set the band played a new song ‘We Are Love’ which hopefully means a new album is on the cards. As I walked to the back of the venue you get a glimpse into the scale of this place, and it looked magnificent as the sun started to set over the stage. The multi level areas really are deceptive and it holds ten thousand people, all of whom were singing in unison to ‘The Only One I Know’, always a magical moment when fans are drawn together like this in the late summer evenings.
The set closed with another new song, the penultimate number this evening ‘Many a Day a Heartache’ and finally ‘Sproston Green’. Yet again another epic evening of music, Northern Bands coming together to deliver indie classics on what is certainly a history making week for 90’s bands…
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