Charlotte Hatherley LIVE

It was another hellacious journey on Poolstock Lane, but at least the traffic on the rest of the journey was clear. Upon arrival in sunny Liverpool it was off to The Crown, where we nearly saw a fight, some fish & chips, another drink in The Crown (and numerous losing efforts on the quiz machine), a swift pint in Ma Egerton’s and then off to the venue…to realise that Miss Hatherley was on at 9 and that there was a distinct lack of people in the venue. Indeed the last time I was at the Carling Academy 2 it was that packed that I couldn’t even see the band. This time, with less than 10 minutes to “show-time” I could have walked almost straight to the front.

Needless to say it did fill up slightly, although it was hardly packed out, which doesn’t really bode well for the success of the new album, but that’s not my concern for this time is it?

With the minimum of fuss the band made their way onto the stage and kicked in with current single I Want You To Know which still remained only “quite good”. Things picked up with a couple of tracks from her debut album, namely Kim Wilde and Summer but the majority of the evening was dedicated to her upcoming album Deep Blue.

Of course an artist previewing new tracks is always going to make for an unpredictable evening, and this was no exception. Some tracks excited me, some didn’t.

The pick of the new tracks, aside from the rather wonderful Behave, were Be Thankful and Siberia. Less successful, on the initial airing at least, were Again and Roll Over. That’s not to say they were particularly bad songs, but they failed to grab me.

Still by tossing in Bastardo and an XTC cover (This Is Pop) there was enough energy throughout the show to just about drift it into thumbs up territory. Sadly though, overall it wasn’t an evening that left me all excited about her new album and it was an insultingly brief show (it was all over and done with within 45 minutes – INCLUDING encores) that probably clocked in shorter than when I went to see her around the time of the release of Grey Will Fade.

Don’t get me wrong, it was by no means a bad evening, but it did little to really enthuse you about Hatherley’s comeback. Still there were enough highlights to show that Deep Blue could be well worth a listen.