Live Review: The Charlatans, The Morning After Girls

The Morning After Girls, who are not a girl group despite what their name might suggest, get the night off to a smooth start with their unique take on psychedelic-rock. Despite a number of line-up changes, The Morning After Girls present as a hirsute quartet of hard rocking dudes with a set that has plenty of grunt. Dressed in black and looking like they mean business, core members Sacha Lucashenko and Marty Sleeman deploy psychedelic guitars but don't deliver a trippy sludge of sound.

Their focus is instead on delivering well-written songs with a tight and basic rock band that drops a massive wall of psychedelic sound. Pummelling beats and riffs, which push the crowd forward, ensure that these fellas don't linger for too long on anything in particular. When you least expect it, they drop an angular harmonica solo into the thunderous mix. It feels like it's been a while since we last saw The Morning After Girls but it's great to see that while they continue to work to their musical blueprint, they also continue to grow and improve with age.

Broadcasting from some long-forgotten part of the nineties, The Charlatans bounce onto the stage to give us retro feelgood Madchester indie vibes that want us to dance as much as we rock. Most of the crowd fondly remember tunes off Tellin' Stories which bring to mind childhood memories. The truth of the matter is that The Charlatans continued to record many, many albums and their latest long player Different Days agreeably sounds very much like a blast from the not-so-distant past. Their set takes in stone cold classics and newer tunes, all of which blend seamlessly into that classic Charlatans sound. Newer cuts like Plastic Machinery are impressive but it's the classics that send the crowd enthusiastically swinging from the chandeliers.

Frontman Tim Burgess is apparently in his fifties but from a distance, he looks like he's only 25. 'Is that a wig?' gasp punters commenting on Burgess' mop top bob that gets flicked in every direction imaginable as he indulges in some quirkily persistent hip-thrusting dance moves. Right from their latest single Totally Eclipsing to bringing down encores with Sproston Green, The Charlatans delivered a joyous set of tunes that had the crowd bouncing. Irresistible riffs from Mark Collins' guitar and Tony Rogers' electronic organ are a highlight on many of the tunes they play tonight. After all these years it's surprising to see The Charlatans in such fine form and perhaps enjoying a renaissance moment in their career.