• The Charlatans to play four homecoming gigs at Memorial Court
  • Week-long town takeover with host of events across multiple venues
  • Tim Burgess explains why Northwich is so special to the band
  • Full list of events and hotels

THE Charlatans have sung about ‘coming home’ throughout their illustrious music career, whether it be in their 2015 single Come Home Baby, or the 1995 hit Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over.

But now it’s finally happening.

The Northwich band has exclusively announced through the Northwich Guardian that they will play four nights at Memorial Court. 

The dates will be Monday, May 14, Wednesday, May 16, Thursday, May 17, and Friday, May 18. 

Scroll to the bottom of the page to see all the details on The Charlatans Northwich shows and much more including Clint Boon, The Slow Readers Club and Paddy Considine.

Now with the four gigs at Northwich’s Memorial Court on the horizon in May for the popular indie band, and a whole host of other events scheduled around the town, the Guardian caught up with frontman Tim Burgess in the town’s old bingo hall, The Plaza, to talk all things Northwich.

“We played a tour at the end of last year and we rehearsed at Memorial Court,” Tim explained, recalling the moment the band knew they had to play there.

“As soon as we walked in, I just thought ‘we should play here’. I’d never seen it from inside before, and as soon as I did it was like ‘wow, this place is amazing’.

“I think originally we were going to do like a spontaneous unannounced gig there and then after we rehearsed. But then we thought it would be better to do more preparation and do it properly and the more we got into it the more we realised that it should involve Northwich as a town.”

‘Involving Northwich as a town’ for The Charlatans, means bringing their friends along to play at venues all over the town.

Popular keyboard player of Inspiral Carpets and now Radio X DJ, Clint Boon, will be doing a DJ set at Retros nightclub, Slow Readers Club will perform at Northwich Library, and Peaky Blinders star, Paddy Considine, will also play at the Salty Dog with his band Riding The Low. 

“It’s really more of a chance to include the town as a whole and the people and the four shows gives us a chance to do that,” Tim said.

“The seed of the idea was from when we rehearsed there, but we’ve really been working on it since then, since November, and it’s just kept growing into what it is now.

“The idea of making more of this homecoming than just a gig, or even a four-night gig, and having stuff going on all over town, it’s all about bringing attention to Northwich and to put Northwich on the map.

“This is going to be publicised all over the world, people in Japan will be reading about this announcement, people in America, and Northwich is going to be on their lips.

“That is an important part of it all – to bring people’s attention to this place.

“It’s obviously massively important for the band, but we wanted to include a load of other things in places like this [The Plaza] to make it as big for the town as we can.

“There’s going to be shows on at the Salty Dog, shows on at the library, I’m going to be DJing at Retros.

“And the thing is - you find you announce it with a certain number of things happening, and then once it’s announced more people get in touch and want to get involved so you may find it naturally keeps growing. So, who knows what we could have happening?”

Growing up in Moulton, Tim spent most of his childhood in Northwich and says the regular walks into town were where his dreams of one day being in a band and touring the world began.

“I grew up in Moulton and Northwich is obviously a big part of my childhood and teenage life,” Tim said.

“I used to walk from Moulton to Northwich all the time and that’s when I’d just dream about music and songs and the world and travel and going to places and I think that walk is kind of what formed everything really.”

With the rest of the band hailing from elsewhere around the country, Tim was keen to point out that this isn’t just a homecoming for the frontman.

“Of course, it’s a homecoming for The Charlatans. The band has always kind of been known as a Manchester band by many, but the band actually met in Omega Record Shop in Northwich.

“We all met there and so this is the home of The Charlatans.

“Even when the Manchester scene was kicking off and we were kind of put in with that by a lot of people, we were always saying ‘no we’re from Northwich’, even though individually we’re from all over.”

Northwich Guardian:

Events for The Charlatans' Northwich takeover

  • The Charlatans, Memorial Court, May 14, 16, 17 & 18. Tickets will be sold through Dice and will go on sale on March 3, at 10am. More details to come. The two concerts on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 will see two completely seperate setlists, apart from fan-favourite Sproston Green which will be played every night. Fans will be able to buy tickets for both Thursday and Friday night with one click. 
  • Martin Blunt aftershow DJ set, Retros, May 14.
  • Tim Burgess aftershow DJ set, Retros, May 17.
  • Clint Boon aftershow DJ set, Retros, May 18.
  • Riding The Low (Paddy Considine's band), Salty Dog, May 19.
  • The Blinders, Salty Dog, May 20. 
  • Deja Vega, Salty Dog, May 14. Will finish in time to walk over to Memorial Court for The Charlatans. 
  • The Charlatans Quiz hosted by Radio 6's Chris Hawkings and very special guests, Salty Dog, May 15. 
  • Yucatan, Salty Dog, May 16. Will finish in time to walk over to Memorial Court for The Charlatans. 
  • Average Sex, Salty Dog, May 17. Will finish in time to walk over to Memorial Court for The Charlatans. 
  • BMX Bandits, Salty Dog, May 18. Will finish in time to walk over to Memorial Court for The Charlatans. 
  • The Slow Readers Club, supported by Tom Mouse Smith, Northwich Library, May 19. Part of the Get It Loud In Libraries project which has featured big names such as Adele and Florence + The Machine. 
  • The Two Shot Podcast Live, the Odeon, May 19. With BAFTA winning director Paddy Considine and Live of Duty star Craig Parkinson.
  • Northwich Odeon, May 19 - showing Bunch of Kunst, the award wining Sleaford Mods documentary, Factory Floor’s re-score of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Paddy Considine's Journeyman and Charlatans videos and live footage. 
  • The Charlatans Exhibition, Barons Quay, from May 10 to May 20. The free exhibition will feature rare memorabilia, instruments and merchandise from the band’s near-30 years together. 
  • Dave Haslam book launch, Barons Quay, May 19. The best-selling author will be launching his autobiography Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor. 
  • Vinyl Record Fair, The Plaza, May 18 & 19. 40 stalls of vinyls and memorabilia. It will feature performances from Tony Walsh (the poet who wrote This Is The Place), Stargazing Live’s Professor Tim O’Brien and a book reading from Tim Burgess.

Northwich Guardian:

Tickets are available on Saturday, March 3 at 10am but you'll need to download the Dice FM app to be able to get them.

Read more about how it works here.