Saul is known among James fans for his raucous stage persona and his skill at provoking audience members into exuberant singalongs. In this interview, Saul shares his latest project
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Saul is known among James fans for his raucous stage persona and his skill at provoking audience members into exuberant singalongs. In this interview, Saul shares his latest project
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I don’t even play on every song, She’s A Star and Sit Down for example, I don’t play on those; I just get to sit and watch from the side of the stage and I have to admit there’s something quite magical about that because as band members we obviously don’t normally get that experience. Inherently the show is about the orchestra, choir and of course the songs and I think that is a different experience for all of us. It is really very special.
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“The buzz in the room is electric as the lights go up. It’s rare for James to play a show this small these days, their June 2024 show is at the mammoth O2, 10 times the size of this. They make those arenas feel intimate, but tonight you could see the whites in their eyes, smell the intensity of the performance and revel in the fact that it could all coming crashing down in an instant. The song choice might have been more straight-forward than usual, but this band is all about the delivery of them. And that was as unpredictably unpredictable as ever.”
Read the full review at Even The Stars
“Headlined by indie icons James with very special guests The Snuts, all 2,000 tickets to the event sold out within minutes of going on sale in early September.”
Read the full review at Hello Rayo
Originally scheduled for 13th May 2023
“Then they’re gone. Band embrace choir, choir embrace orchestra, orchestra embrace band, but in truth those barriers were well and truly broken down early in this journey. The group that came together in Brighton back in April have been on a journey to become one entity – the relationships and the music has evolved so much simply by them being on stage. Whilst there’s a sadness that this might be the last time we see James this way, the overwhelming feeling is of euphoria that they made good on their promises to do this again after 2011, and that this time it exceeded even their and our wildest dreams.”
Read the full review at Even The Stars
“The addition of the orchestra intensified the emotions and feelings that came with ‘Tomorrow’, which saw Tim visit the stalls, balancing on a seat a few rows in and interacting with the lucky fans around him. The penultimate track of the evening was ‘Sometimes’ – one of the band’s biggest crowd pleasers that never fails to connect the band and their fans. Visibly moved by the response, Tim held the microphone out as the crowd kept the track going long after it had ended and it was both a powerful and uplifting moment for everybody involved. The evening came to an end with a slow-starting ‘Laid’, which burst into the anthemic version that we all know and love, offering a perfect end not just to the evening, but to the orchestral tour as a whole.”
Read the full review at God Is In The TV Zine
“The addition of the orchestra intensified the emotions and feelings that came with ‘Tomorrow’, which saw Tim visit the stalls, balancing on a seat a few rows in and interacting with the lucky fans around him. The penultimate track of the evening was ‘Sometimes’ – one of the band’s biggest crowd pleasers that never fails to connect the band and their fans. Visibly moved by the response, Tim held the microphone out as the crowd kept the track going long after it had ended and it was both a powerful and uplifting moment for everybody involved. The evening came to an end with a slow-starting ‘Laid’, which burst into the anthemic version that we all know and love, offering a perfect end not just to the evening, but to the orchestral tour as a whole.”
Read the full review at The Left Lion
Originally scheduled for 15th May 2023
“There’s a magic whenever James take the stage, an unpredictability about what you’re going to get even if the setlist doesn’t spring any surprises. They’re a band that thrive on the mood, both in the band and in the room, and this collaboration has effectively fused an orchestra and choir that have wholeheartedly bought into the band’s ethos on to the already hefty nine of them. These shows may never happen again, it’s twelve years since the first orchestral tour, and 2024 sees a new album and the campaign that comes with it out in the world and James continuing to look forward as a band to their next twist and turn, but they’ll live long in the memory.”
Read the full review at Even The Stars
“James feel like they’re on a roll right now, there’s an on-stage energy and creative tension that makes them thrive. They’re ready to take risks but also understand the need to give everybody something to walk out the door with, mixing the known with less-known, confident in the latter to win the crowd over. From the likes of Johnny Yen and Hymn From A Village through to Isabella and Beautiful Beaches, they’ve discovered an anti-ageing serum that all of us in the crowd would love to bottle and apply.”
Read the full review at Even The Stars
“From their 1990 breakthrough baggy album Gold Mother, Come Home has the crowd singing along as does their biggest hit Sit Down, with Booth conducting everyone in an extended a capella chorus. He dedicates it to the memory of their former collaborator Sinead O’Connor, paying tribute to her whistleblowing in particular. Booth, who has entertained with frenzied whirling dervish dancing and constantly engaged closely with the audience at the front, goes one step further during Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) as he surfs on the crowd. James close with the gospel-like Sometimes with the chorus “Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes, I swear I can see your soul” bringing everyone together at the end of the evening.”
Read the full review at Music OMH
“Tim Booth and co took to the stage at the Crystal Place Bowl for a 17-song set, which was preceded by support from Girlband and fellow Mancunians the Happy Mondays”
Read the full review at Radio X
“If pop’s history books were to be believed, James should really have been the support, not the headliners, on this sunny evening in Crystal Palace Park…”
Read the full review at The Telegraph (paywall)
“Booth was at his magnetic best when the climbed down from the stage and into the crowd for ‘Come Home’, walking among the faithful and rising above them by climbing onto a fence to deliver a tour de force vocal. It was spine-tingling stuff.”
Read the full review at The Northern Echo
“Tonight we’re treated to the hits (and there’s plenty of those!) alongside some deeper cuts. The biggest cheers are reserved for the big three of course (Sit Down, Getting Away With It and show-closer Laid) but the band could have omitted them, as they often do, and the show would have been no less superb. “
Read the full review at So.co
“Sit Down is taken away from the band by the crowd and made their own and if Tim hadn’t stopped them they’d probably still be singing it now. It can be a cliche with audience singalongs but not when it’s this spontaneous. As if almost to prove a point the crowd don’t pick up Sometimes at the end so it comes to a slightly abrupt stop. It probably affords them an extra song as they quickly decide to ditch the encore ritual and finish with Come Home and Getting Away With It (All Messed Up), chosen off the hoof from a list of possibilities that means there’s a few moans about the exclusion of Laid. But this is James, you don’t get everything you expect or want every time, but you are pretty much guaranteed a joyous occasion, plenty of unique moments and a band that is thriving now as a unit more than they’ve ever done, reviving old songs and giving them new life and magic, throwing in the odd curveballs and never neglecting their most recent work.”
Read the full review at Even The Stars