Lead singer of The Charlatans, Tim Burgess, has it seems invented a time machine and arrives on stage directly from the year 1990.

 He is wearing a baggy cardigan drooping from his shoulders, his hands lost in the sleeves, and a Beatles bowl cut. He looks like he has not aged since the baggy days of the Madchester era from which The Charlatans first emerged. It is not just Burgess who defies age tonight as the band tear through early classics The Only One I Know, Weirdo, Then, and Crashin’ In.

It is almost clichéd to mention their status as perennial survivors but what is certain is The Charlatans are a live band of considerable talent with an almost never ending back catalogue of classics to draw upon.

New song You Cross My Path gets the gig underway and the near capacity crowd roar into life. Before they have a chance to settle the familiar chords of the organ go off like an air raid siren and Burgess implores the crowd to “bounce”. “Most of the time you are happy, you’re a weirdo”, sings Burgess to an ecstatic crowd giving one of those early classics an airing.

Burgess is a ball of pure energy from which the rest of the band seems to draw their strength. He doesn’t stay still for the entire gig. At times he wields an imaginary light sabre around the stage. At others he is climbing on the stage barriers causing a mild panic for security and a small riot in the crowd as adoring fans clamour to touch their hero.

The set list comprises, perhaps surprisingly, of mostly new songs. It is a testament to the strength of the new material and evident adoration of the crowd when each song is greeted like an old friend. Oh Vanity and Mis-Takes are highlights with Burgess encouraging the crowd to “dance” before the night turns into a mini-rave.

In the middle of the set three fan favourites are played back-to back for the die-hard contingent – this is comprised of the entire crowd judging by the reaction. Here Comes A Soul Saver, One To Another, and The Only One I Know turns a semi-riot into the full blown thing with plastic bottles and full pints flying all over the venue. During One To Another the whole crowd scream in unison, “Beeeeee my spider-woman, I’ll beeeeee your spider-man” in their best Mancunian accents.

They finish the set with This Is The End before returning for the inevitable encore. How High sends the crowd in ecstasy once more with one lady getting carried away and flinging her bra onstage much to the bands amusement.

There is nothing spectacular on offer tonight but after nearly two hours the crowd still roars for more. They finish with a triumphant extended version of Sproston Green and disappear into the fog of the smoke machine and back to the year 1990.