LIVE REVIEW: The Charlatans at Sheffield O2 Academy

Adele Forrest reviews The Charlatans on their Different Days album tour.

SOMETHING weird happened last night at The Charlatans gig at the O2 Academy in Sheffield — I hardly saw anyone with their mobile phone out!

It was refreshing to see people just enjoying the show rather than watching it through a screen as so many people do at gigs nowadays.

I thought perhaps this was a reflection on the band’s older fanbase after clocking up three-decades in the music biz, but I spotted a lot of youngsters there, too, enjoying the show with parents which was nice to see.

The band may be a bit long in the tooth, but frontman Tim Burgess, the man with the most recognisable silhouette in indie, helps keep the band fresh.

His energetic dancing, youthful looks and “that” shaggy haircut remained unchanged, helping to transport me straight back to the 90s.

It was a snowy evening in the Steel City and a school night of course, which is maybe why it took the audience a little while to thaw out and get into the groove as they opened with Not Forgotten and Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over from 1995.

Burgess is still as effortlessly cool as ever, rocking a baggy jumper that looked like it was bought in 1995 and dancing to his own psychedelic rhythm - the man has some dangerous snake hips — sign him up to Strictly Come Dancing, I say.

But unlike with other bands born out of the same era, this didn’t feel like a greatest hits tour as the band’s newer material from their latest album Different Days was as well received as the classics, proving their still as relevant today.

Burgess also showcased his harmonic skills (one of the most underrated instruments in my opinion) on a tune he said was called I Need a Haircut, which I think was tongue-in-cheek?

Two of my personal favourites — One to Another and The Only One I Know — proved the rest of the band to be as tight as ever and I may have even sneaked my phone out to catch the action.

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