From NME
19 February 2002

Astoria, London (11 February 2002)
 

Ah, a manly pipe, a roaring fire and The Charlatanss. Where's my foot spa? Ah, ta pet. Cup of Horlicks? Mmmm. 'One To Another', 'The Only One I Know'. 'Weirdo', 'North Country Boy', nothing warms the cockles more cosily than a bit of funky drumming '90s Manc indie pop, no ma'am. But hang on! If tonight is supposed to herald a new scorched earth policy towards music, surely ver Charlies should be the first bloated baggy icon on the bonfire? Well no, that's lan Brown - The Charlatans, remember, are 'he most huggable band in the world, fantastically reinventing themselves as funk soul brethren of Prince and Sly Stone. With 'Love Is The Key' 'Judas' and the sweet, soaring 'And If I Fall' as armour they're the only indie dinosaurs capable of surviving the next Big Bang.

So there you have it kids, your New Rock Order. Now please don't fuck it up again.

Mark Beaumont

Tim's views of the gig

NME: Did you enjoy the gig then?

Tim: "Yeah, it was good. It was brilliant. I've been ravaged! We have just got back from touring Japan and I've been through three different time zones to get here, so happy birthday. It's NME's 50th birthday, innit? We got back yesterday or the day before."

Duffy (from Primal Scream, just passing): "That's the trouble when you're travelling, like. You get 2 days off but that goes when you're in the air! You lose a day just like that! Oh, sorry, I didn't realise that you were doing an interview. I didn't see the little black box."

Tim: "Japan was brilliant. Went to Tokyo, bought a load of robots, just stupid robots, and got really into Kraftwerk. It was good."

NME: This was quite a small gig for you tonight. Do you enjoy the smaller shows more?

Tim: "I was more nervous really. When we did the ones before (Decembers Arena Tour), without wanting to sound like a knob, we almost got used to it. Then we went to America and played 15 small ones, went to Japan and did 4 medium sized ones and came back and I think the Astoria is a medium sized one. We've done it twice before and loved it. It's been great. Glad we're here. Stoic to the end, and I face the change!"