The Charlatans announce 30th Anniversary Tour

The Charlatans press photo
Photo credit: Tom Sheehan

The Charlatans have announced that their (Covid) delayed 30th Anniversary Tour will kick off in November. They will also release a special album box set on limited edition blue vinyl on Then Recordings via Republic Of Music on  October 15, 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 the November 22 and finish up in Aberdeen on the December 20, 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.

A Head Full of Ideas The Charlatans box set
A Head Full Of Ideas’ track list

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 (DEMO’S):                                     

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 are 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.

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