The Charlatans announce 30th anniversary tour + box set

The Charlatans have announced that their (Covid) delayed 30th anniversary tour will kick off in November. They also announced a special album box set on limited edition blue vinyl on Then Recordings through Republic Of Music on October 15th, 2021.

‘A Head Full Of Ideas’ features five albums and an exclusive seven-inch single and is a career-spanning collection that sums up their remarkable progress from 1990 Manchester scene hopefuls to one of the UK’s most enduring and best-loved bands. The accompanying tour will visit eighteen cities and will kick off at The Limelight in Belfast on November 22nd and finish up in Aberdeen on the December 20th, 2021.

In a celebrated and genre bursting career, The Charlatans have notched up thirteen Top 40 studio albums – three of them number ones – alongside twenty two 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 many times over the years. 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 the most recent album ‘Different Days’ as“one of their best ever”.

This limited box set, is a diverse collection portrayed over five blue vinyl LP’s, spanning their hits, classic live performances, unheard demo’s, rarities and remixes from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Norman Cook and Sleaford Mods. The package will will also include an exclusive seven inch single featuring demo versions of Indian Rope / The Only One I Know, a signed print of a tour poster from the early 1990’s together with a booklet featuring unseen photographs and sleeve notes by friend and journalist Dave Simpson. There will also be triple vinyl LP version and 2CD deluxe of the box set featuring the hits albums plus the live album, and finally a CD or vinyl of just the hits albums. 

Their iconic and hugely adored live track ‘One To Another’ (circa 1997) provides the titles for the individual vinyl collection within the box set. Each piece of vinyl is named after a lyric from the song.

Here is the full track listing:

‘A Head Full Of Ideas’

Side A 

The Only One I Know
Weirdo
Can’t Get Out of Bed
Jesus Hairdo
Just When You’re Thinking Things Over
North Country Boy

Side B  

Tellin’ Stories
One to Another
How High
Forever
Impossible

Side C  

Love Is the Key
A Man Needs to Be Told
Up at The Lake
Blackened Blue Eyes
Oh Vanity                                                                   

Side D  

My Foolish Pride
Come Home Baby
Let the Good Times Be Never Ending
Plastic Machinery
Totally Eclipsing

Trust Is For Believers (Live):

Side A 

Polar Bear – Blackburn Kings Hall 1990
Indian Rope – Reading Festival 1992
Can’t Even Be Bothered – Reading Festival 1992    
Can’t Get Out Of Bed – Glasgow Tramway, Sound City 1994                                             
I Never Want an Easy Life (If Me & Him Were Ever To Get There) – Glasgow Tramway Sound City 1994
Then – Glastonbury Festival 1995

Side B  

Here Comes Soul Saver – Hultsfred Festival , Sweden 1997
Just Lookin’- Hultsfred Fest Sweden 1997
My Beautiful Friend – Delamare Forest, Cheshire 2007 
The Blind Stagger – Delamare Forest, Cheshire 2007                                                         
Sproston Green – Reading Festival 1999

Pleased To Meet You (Demos):                                     

Side A 

C’mon C’mon (Demo)
Sleepy Little Sunshine Boy (Demo)
Dardanella (Demo)
So Oh (Demo)
Always On My Mind (Demo)

Side B  

Everybody Ha Ha (Demo)
Commuter Computer (Demo)
Crystal Eyes (Demo)
Polar Bear (Demo)
I Need You to Know (Demo)

One To Another (Remixes):

Side A 

Plastic Machinery Sleaford Mods Remix
Nine Acre Dust Chemical Brothers Remix
Not Forgotten Brian Jonestown Massacre Remix
Tellin’ Stories The Go! Team Remix

Side B  

Trouble Understanding Norman Cook Remix
My Beautiful Friend Jagz Kooner Remix
Hey Sunrise The Orb Remix
You’re So Pretty, We’re so Pretty Lo Fidelity Allstars Remix       

Bonus Demos 7”:

Side A 

Indian Rope (Demo)

Side AA

The Only One I Know (Demo)          

To celebrate their anniversary and the box set, the band have confirmed an extensive UK & Ireland tour.

November 2021

22nd Belfast, Limelight

23rd Dublin, Olympia

25th Wrexham, William Aston Hall

26th Bristol, O2 Academy

27th Birmingham, O2 Academy

29th Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion

30th Bournemouth, Academy

December 2021

02nd Oxford, O2 Academy

03rd Cambridge, Corn Exchange

04th Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse

06th Lincoln, Engine Shed

08th Liverpool, Invisible Wind Factory

09th Newcastle, City Hall

10th London, O2 Brixton Academy

16th Nottingham, Rock City

17th Leeds, O2 Academy

18th Glasgow, O2 Academy

20th Aberdeen, Music Hall

Tickets go on sale 10am Friday 30^th April and will be available from www.gigsandtours.com / www.ticketmaster.co.uk. Ticket prices are £39.50 in Manchester and London, £35 in Birmingham and Leeds and everywhere else £30-£32.50. Support to be announced.