Event Review: Tim Burgess in Conversation with Chris Hawkins

Words: Julia Grantham

Photos: Paul Dixon

Last Sunday, my friend and I arrived at the AO Arena in Manchester. We were early. The stage was small, adorned with bright-coloured green plants, illuminated under the glare of lights and in the middle were two stool-like chairs. A screen to the left had Tim Burgess’ face on it, a bar was in the distance and one or two people were meandering around the otherwise empty space. This was not a typical gig. A bit like Tim’s latest solo album ironically named ‘Typical Music’, there was nothing typical about the venue or start to the evening which felt like a quiet theatre in the depths of one of Manchester’s largest railways stations.

I am reminded now, writing this, of all the other Tim Burgess or Charlatans gigs I have been to. Each one different and never the same; yet every time I want to return. They say it’s the people that make the occasion, and The Charlatans and Tim Burgess community is very special indeed. Even now, after 17 years of going to his gigs, I meet fans that I’ve never met before, each with their own unique story to tell.

Just before the event started, two friends arrived and hugged each other tightly, but not before excitedly discussing the next event they would be attending. Would it be the Merch Market event on the 25th May in Manchester? The Charlatans’ gig at Castlefield bowl on the 5th July? Or Kendal Calling music festival where they might drink coffee at Tim Peaks Diner? Maybe it’ll be all three. One thing is for sure, by the time Chris Hawkins walked on stage the audience was alive with friendly and excited chatter and the tone was set for an unforgettable evening of conversation and song. 

Tim was introduced to the stage and emerged as The Charlatan’s classic “The Only One I Know”, started to play.When he saw Chris, they hugged and it felt like we were about to witness two old friends having a long awaited catch up. Their warmth felt both touching and infectious. The conversation opened with Tim’s childhood. Coming from a small village called Moulton near Northwich, Tim described a cosy sounding start to life in which he gradually encountered different types of music. Unlike other pop stars, Tim told us that he didn’t come from a musical family. However, it was through family and friends that he was introduced to records, both from knowing people who ran his local record shop and from going to gigs as young as 13, such as the band Crass who played in his local Scout Hut.

It was interesting to hear how Tim went from immersing himself into the local gig scene, to forming his first band Electric Crayons, to eventually meeting The Charlatans and landing the role as the band’s frontman. Seemingly, Martin Blunt (founding member and bass player) set off to tell the original lead singer (Baz Keatley) that he was out of a job, but before he had the chance, Keatley told him he was having second thoughts about being in the band, and Tim’s role has remained the same for over three decades. The band have thirteen studio albums to their name to date and Tim’s solo career has seen him produce five solo LPs, his most recent release Typical Music (2022) is out now on the record label Bella Union. Tim explained to Chris that he went to Nashville to record his second solo LP ‘Oh No I love you’ and that on this record, it was Kurt Wagner who wrote the lyrics, while he wrote the music.

The Charlatans have endured much tragedy over the years. Speaking about the death of Rob Collins in 1996, Tim discussed how they “assumed that was it, it must be all over now”. But the band stayed together. Friend of the band Martin Duffy of Primal Scream (who also sadly died 3 years ago) stepped in to play keyboard for the band at their much-anticipated Knebworth gig supporting Oasis. And When Tim moved to LA shortly afterwards, leaving the rest of the band back in The UK he told Chris: “I knew if I was going to stay in the band, I’d have to make the effort to make rehearsals”. He then laughed as he said, “I was still always the first to arrive and Martin was always the last! It’s always been like that. Still is!”

The audience was engrossed in the conversation between Chris and Tim, but I couldn’t help but start to wonder when we would hear some music. What might not be commonly known, is that Tim has recently started playing guitar to live audiences (although he told us this that he’s been playing guitar for years). As he nervously started to warm up, he was accompanied on stage by Helen O’ Hara from Dexy’sMidnight Runners on violin. Together they performed ‘Jesus Hairdo’ from The Charlatans’ album ‘Up to Our Hips’. It was a beautiful stripped-back rendition of the song, enhancing the melody and allowing the tiny space to be filled with every word he sang. A few people started to mouth the words, singing quietly. It was a wonderfully meditative way to experience this familiar much-loved track in a fresh and new way.

The second song, ‘North Country Boy’ was performed in a completely different key. Taken from the bands 5th album ‘Tellin Stories’, Tim revealed that this was first played at Knebworth before its release. This song reminds me ofsummer with the line ‘everyday the sun comes out’ and it’s slow and hazy melodies. Tonight’s version sounded wistful, pensive and almost melancholy which suited the dark, quiet and serene nature of the setting.

After the interval Tim and Helen played just two more songs, but not before Chris asked Tim about ‘getting clean’ and his experiences of drug and addiction which Tim discussed with candour and humour: “I have an addictive personality” he told us before revealing that he realised he needed to quit drugs for good when it dawned on him that he wasn’t being true to himself anymore.

The talk then turned to Tim’s twitter listening parties which became huge during the pandemic, and even included an interview with Paul McCartney, all hosted by Tim himself. Fans would tune into twitter at 10pm and each evening a different album from a different band or artist was played and discussed. Band members would discuss everything from where the music was recorded, what each song was about and sometimes answered questions from fans as the music played.Everyone from blur to Julia Holter, Oasis and Franz Ferdinand took part, every evening it was someone new. Tim explained that during lockdown when we were all confined to our homes that it was lovely to experience this collective appreciation of music spanning generations and genres from around the world to escape what was going on around us at the time. 

When Tim played “Yours. To. Be” one of his most recent solo releases, Chris commented that “Sunday nights don’t get better than this”. I have been fortunate enough to hear this song performed twice before and the opening line “Sunday morning” seemed to perfectly fit this balmy Sunday in Manchester. It seemed to waft and float freely around the auditorium, soothing the crowd with its fusion of strings. If you get the chance to attend a Tim Burgess event this summer, you won’t want to miss hearing this song. In my opinion it is poetry set to music in the loveliest way possible.

The audience seemed to really enjoy hearing from Helen o Hara who joined the conversation to talk about how she came to work with him, describing him as a ‘dream to work with’ and also revealing that: “I’ve never told Tim this before, but I was actually starstruck and nervous the first time we met”. Tim smiled shyly before thanking her, because for him having been a fan of Dexy’s Midnight Runners since a child I got the feeling he was equally as delighted to have been working with Helen in this way through their mutual appreciation of each other’s music. Helen even described how much she loved his recent album.

For the fourth and final song “Impossible” taken from Us and Us Only, Tim took to the harmonica, but not before asking Chris to be his drinks roadie and pass him some water “I’ve been talking for ages!” he laughed, “And my mouth is full!”he was about to play harmonica while holding his guitar). It struck me at this point what an incredible role model Tim is. Earlier on in the evening he described how he “pushes everything as far as I possibly can” even though he just liked to chill at school. In fact, he’d only landed back in The UK from LA less than 48 hrs ago and hadn’t slept much. However, the thing about Tim is that he’s always thinking outside of the box, reinventing the wheel and keeping the industry on its toes.

Tim has been quoted as saying “Music can save people”. He puts a lot of energy into helping an industry that he has long since been a part of and often comments that what he’s doing for artists is not about The Charlatans it’s about the future generations of bands, and he campaigns about what he sees as the injustice of venues charging bands commission on selling their merchandise, a vital part of earning any money at gigs in 2025.

His next Manchester event on Sunday 25th May is part of the “help us help bands” campaign which has helped raise money for grassroots bands to hire recording spaces and get started. This event allows bands to sell their merchandise without paying any fees. Never one for shying away from what he believes in, Tim has promoted and supported unsigned and emerging artists for over two decades now, starting with his own record label Ogenesis and culminating in this very special event which will range from merchandise stalls to live performances including new band Mich Dulce and Her Midnight Callers as well as Manchester Indie veterans New Order, Inspiral Carpets and of course Tim Burgess himself. You can find out about this event here: