THE CHARLATANS are currently on their (Covid) delayed 30th Anniversary tour and recently released a 6 vinyl LP Box Set to celebrate the anniversary. ‘A Head Full Of Ideas’ is a five album, and exclusive 7”, career-spanning box set that sums up their remarkable progress from 1990 Manchester scene hopefuls to one of the UK’s most enduring and best-loved bands.
The limited box set was released in October 2021 and is followed now by an extensive UK & Ireland tour with an extra date added due to demand at Exeter’s Great Hall on Tuesday 14 December 2021.
The band have notched up 13 Top 40 studio albums – three of them number ones – alongside 22 hit singles, four of them top 10. The rollercoaster highs have been accompanied by some shattering lows, any which one of them could have felled a less resilient band, from nervous breakdowns to near bankruptcy and the deaths of two founder members.
Somehow, they have not just carried on but adapted and transformed. The classic Charlatans sound – driving Hammond organ, Northern Soul and house-influenced rhythms, swaggering guitars and Tim Burgess’s sunny yet somehow yearning vocal – is instantly recognisable. And in spite of everything they have been through their music is now more relevant than ever, The Guardian described their last album, Different Days as “one of their best ever”.
Support comes from Martin Carr & What Future. Martin Carr was the chief songwriter and lead guitarist with the band The Boo Radleys. Tickets for the Exeter date are on sale now
Tuesday 14 December 2021 – Exeter Great Hall