Following a hugely successful one off show at Liverpool Echo Arena in 2016, two heavyweights of British music James & The Charlatans have announced a joint UK arena tour for December 2018 including Manchester Arena
Also released today is the live video for Hank, taken from James’ forthcoming new album Living In Extraordinary Times.
Released on 3rd August, their 15th studio album is produced by Mercury and Brit Award winner Charlie Andrew (whose previous work includes alt-J and Wolf Alice) and rising star Beni Giles.
The video, filmed live at Victoria Theatre Halifax, is a perfect example of the passion and emotion that drives the band’s live performances. It sees them in fine form and typically outspoken with Tim signing of “White fascists in the white house/More beetroot in your Russian stew” and “A jester prancing like a fool/In jest digest the monster/This president’s a dangerous tool”.
Living In Extraordinary Times follows the release of their recent Better Than That EP, the band’s first new music since their hugely successful 2016 album ‘Girl at the End of the World’, which debuted at number two in the UK album charts, second only to Adele – their highest debut entry in nearly twenty years.
On the new tour Tim Booth says: “Playing with The Charlatans felt like a joyful fit to those of us lucky enough to be present. And besides how often do I get to hang with another Tim who meditates! We want two simpatico bands to be even greater than the sum of their parts to create a magical evening”.
Twenty-eight years since they first bagged a Number One album with ‘Some Friendly’, The Charlatans are still achieving fresh career highs, dreaming up new music that redraws their own map, increasingly assured of who they are as a band.
The Guardian described their latest Top 5 album ‘Different Days’ as “their best for twenty years”. Said album featured contributions from an array of their musical friends; Paul Weller, Johnny Marr and New Order amongst others. For both Different Days and their previous album Modern Nature the band have been regulars on the 6 Music A list, they won a Q Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award and for the past four years have toured the world extensively. On the home front The Charlatans recently hosted the hugely successful North By Northwich festival which saw them take over their hometown for 10 days, putting on gigs, an audience with events, a Charlatans exhibition, films and more.
Tim Burgess adds regarding the forthcoming tour: “We played a show together in Liverpool and said it was a “one night only” but both bands loved it so much we couldn’t resist making it into a tour. Very excited to be catching up with the James fam at the end of the year”.
Tickets for the December tour will go on general sale at 9:30AM on FRIDAY 20 JULY and will be available at GIGSANDTOURS.COM / TICKETMASTER.CO.UK.
