Tonight completes the redemption arc for Montreal in the eyes of opener Frankie Rose: “Thanks for coming early guys; usually nobody shows up in Montreal!” She’s been here a few times over the years, visiting with her other projects such as Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and Beverly… absolutely prolific! Her solo output is much more electronic dark wave, her Grimes-esque whisper vocal an eerie complement to some seriously squelchy Depeche Mode beats, made all the more moody by the bright back screen rendering her and her band silhouettes for the most part.
Moon In My Mind reminds me of Joy Division, so spooky in its rumbling bass, with Frankie’s vocal looped through an effects box to layer in ghostly whispery harmonies. Last song Minor Times is rumbling Cure euphoria, with Frankie’s vocal coming across a lot more Vivian Girls. If Montreal has truly not been showing up all these years, they’ve been missing out; that was an amazing 40 minutes.
And then, The Charlatans. I’ve been listening to them since the 90’s; they’re one of those bands that seem to soundtrack different phases of my life. When they play How High, I am 16 again, reading the CD booklet of Tellin’ Stories to try and learn those lyrics off by heart. When they play You’re So Pretty – We’re So Pretty, I’m back at university, hanging out with a crew from Glasgow and finally learning how to be sociable and outgoing (yeah, I was a late developer). Tonight’s 90-minute set features only 3 songs from their newest 2025 record We Are Love; the other 14 are all from 2001 or earlier, so it’s a massive nostalgia trip for me personally!
Being from the same part of England as the band, I was always used to seeing them in huge venues back home, so the novelty of living in Montreal and being able to see them in tiny venues like Theatre Fairmount will never get old. In fact, this is the second time I’ve seen them in this tiny room; they played here in 2018 too! Even frontman Tim Burgess comments on it: “wow, this is up close and personal!” Tim revels in it though; on Tellin’ Stories, he’s looking at those at the back of the room, beckoning them to come forward, and high-fives those in the front throughout the set.
And the music? Timeless. You know you have a deep catalogue when you can start a set with a song as iconic as Weirdo, those rave synths still quintessentially Mad-chester, and still of plenty of bangers to play. Things go altogether more indie on the anthemic North Country Boy, classic britpop stuff. One To Another is still absolutely massive, its snarling riff still doing battle with those keys all these years later. Tim even chips in on guitar duty these days, on songs like For The Girls and Jesus Hairdo, which draws some good banter from the crowd; “Are you Ed Sheeran?!” shouts one guy! After 1990’s Then, Tim remarks “I just heard a version of that on Dolby Atmos, it sounded great…”
“SOUNDED BETTER LIVE!” comments a guy in the crowd!
Encores don’t come much better than this either, the timeless The Only One I Know swiftly followed by Sproston Green, which even sees a crowdsurfer take to the skies! He probably lasts about 10 seconds before falling through to the floor, but still, 10/10 for effort! Tim waves and leaves the stage as the rest of the band jam out Doors-style to close out the 10-minute epic, bringing the curtain down on one of the shows of the year. Or maybe I’m just biased.
Setlist
- Weirdo
- North Country Boy
- Tellin’ Stories
- Can’t Get Out of Bed
- Then
- Deeper and Deeper
- Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over
- One to Another
- Toothache
- For the Girls
- You’re So Pretty – We’re So Pretty
- Jesus Hairdo
- Just Lookin’
- We Are Love
- How High
Encore
- The Only One I Know
- Sproston Green
Review & photos by Simon Williams
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