Charlatans @ Corn Exchange

News of a fan falling from the balcony at the previous night's Charlatans gig in Wolverhampton weighed heavy on my mind as I awaited Manchester's perennial safe bet to take the stage. Had the gig been bad enough to render this poor chap's life worthless? Or was he just dancing a little recklessly after one shandy too many. Luckily for the nearly-full Corn Exchange attendees, it appears the latter was more likely as Burgess and Co's greatest hits-heavy set tonight was greeted with frenzied rapture. Much of indifferent new record 'Simpatico' was on show here but only served as a respite between singalongs. Latest single Blackened Blue Eyes offered some resistance but even this was left to look strikingly pedestrian against the mid-nineties onslaught of Tellin Stories, North Country Boy, How High and One to Another. Not really much for the future then, lucky they've written such good tunes in the past. [Jon Seller]