The Charlatans: Academy, Islington, London ***

FEW BRITISH BANDS can tear the roof off a venue as ruthlessly as The Charlatans. It's one of the reasons for the enduring affection in which they are held, 15 years into a career that has seen them survive scenes from Baggy to Britpop and luck so bad it could look like a curse: the imprisonment and then death in a car crash of their keyboardist Rob Collins, and the embezzlement by their accountant of a small fortune.