Setlist
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Support
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Review
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by Jesse
Without so much a courtesy as letting the public know, James’ slot was swapped with the Divine Comedy’s, so instead of showing up at 12:40, as scheduled, they appeared on stage at about 2:00 am. They seemed to be in good spirits, and started out with, if my memory doesn’t fail me, “Laid”, initiated with the now usual “ándale, ándale, arriba!” Speedy González cries (which would be more appropriate in a Mexican environment rather than a Spanish one, and even that is debatable). From there on the night was a zig-zag of crowd-pleasers and lesser-knowns, particularly those from Pleased To Meet You, where as far as I´m concerned, seems to have never been released in Spain at all. The band was cheery, although I couldn’t avoid feeling Tim was acting a bit mechanically, but that may be just because I saw them 3 times in like 2 weeks last year. Saul was, as usual, trying to grab a little attention, both by his appearance on stage (showing up with an open shirt and completely getting rid of it later on) and by appropriating the microphone once in a while. It was funny, though, when, after they had said goodbye, he ran back to say something and discovered the mics had already been switched off.
Their setlist was quite long, or at least it seemed that way, considering it was a festival. My estimate is that it lasted about an hour and a half. I was beginning to conclude the resceduling was to let them perform longer, but when Hooverphonic came on stage after them I realised they were not the last band of the night. The crowd was surprisingly participative, singing along and jumping and dancing with the band, which was a nice surprise. My guess is that there were around 10,000 people there, maybe a bit more. The camerawork, displayed on two screens beside the stage, was also a welcome novelty to the previous occasions I had seen them, and very well managed, as well as the sound quality.
The songs I remember they played were: Laid, Lost a Friend, Johnny Yen, Sit Down, Born of Frustration, Ring the Bells, Out to Get You, She’s a Star, Space, Falling Down, Getting Away With It and Señorita (dedicated to the Spanish ladies). I´m ashamed to admit I don’t clearly recall if they played Lose Control, Say Something, Just Like Fred Astaire or maybe some other song off Pleased to Meet You.
I´ll add a bit of value to this attempt of review by mentioning that El Pais, Spain’s most important newspaper, threw in a very cool, almost page-size picture of Tim the next day in their report of the first day of the Festival. They mentioned James, despite being a band whose glory days were behind them, whose last album was “dense” and who were not quite fancied by the majority of the attendees, were the stars of the night, albeit out of sheer musical craftmanship. “Tim Booth is convinced his music still has a purpose, and applied his skill and veteranship to round off a concert that pleased his followers but probably earned him no new ones”.
I´ll finish with a little personal appreciation on the execution of the new songs. In posts to the James mailing list, I have mentioned I am very fond of the first and last 3 songs on the new album, all but one of which were never performed live in last year’s fall tour. All of the songs in the middle were, and I had already developed a strong appreciation for them (Junkie, Señorita, What Is It Good For, Pleased to Meet You, The Shining…). Listening to them on the album they sound weak and cheaply recorded, unlike the openers and closers. I can now add assuringly that I prefer the studio versions of Space and Falling Down over the live versions.
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Supporting Smashing Pumpkins
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Shea Segar
by Allen James
My review of the exeter gig is maybe a bit of a weird one, because of the events that took place that day. It all started when my friend pulled out of coming due to work,and the fact that I had noone to replace him with.
I finally did persuade a friend to come along and we left Cornwall early so I could hopefully get to meet the band as they arrived from Bristol.
About 2:45pm we arrived in exeter and headed for the venue straight away. Once we got there, I tracked down one of the concert organisers who said the band were due any minute. Sure enough they arrived and we got to meet all the band except Tim, who was asleep on the coach.
I had photos taken with all the lads and they were all very obliging if not knackered from the previous nights celebrations!! I left Tim to sleep on the coach and returned an hour later to find him walking about the venue. After a good chat with him discussing my future appearance on Stars In Their Eyes, I shook his hand and made my way to the ever growing queue outside.
Once inside we watched Shea Segar perform their set, which personally I thought went well for them with one or two songs very catchy.
The atmosphere was building and by 9:15pm everyone was ready to party. Down went the lights and the butterflies inside went berserk. On came James to a great reception and they came in with three new songs. Then the most exciting thing in my life happened as Tim spotted me in the crowd and said “hello” in his yipnotic voice. He then carried on with, “actually there’s a guy at the front here who sounds like me”, the crowd roared and the next thing I knew I was onstage with Tim shouting, “Let’s do Destiny Calling”,
Side by side we sang, and that just made the day for me afterwards we were invited backstage where we mingled with the band and discussed the day and the forthcoming gigs.
I cannot actually let the memory fade as I have not yet let it sink in!!, but I know that all the songs they played such as Coffee and Toast, Senorita, Junkie and all the other new ones sound great and leave you aching for the months to pass before you can annoy the neighbours with another James album. But what I will say is that I won’t let Tim down on Stars in Their Eyes, and I hope he watches and asks me to be his backing singer to do great harmonies together….
The day ended with me crashing my car at 2 oclock in the morning on my way home, after the car in front lost his roofrack. If I had died then I would have died a happy man!!!!!!!
by David Chapple
Security could not have been more laid back at Exeter and were surprisingly pleasant. It was pity then that I did not have a video camera, as it would have been easy to have taken one in. In addition, using my girlfriend’s charm we were able to sit down up stairs with the prefect view (thanks to the security).
I should say that I am very critical and not easily pleased – and that anyone who knew me may say that, I speak the truth, even when I should not. I am also not a keen fan of live music, and never go to gigs, but as my favourite band were playing less than a mile from my home, I made an exception and I was not disappointed.
Shea Segar, the opening act, was a little disappointing, I am sure somewhere in there is a good voice, with good songs but we couldn’t hear a thing, as her sound system was very poor. Why drown out her voice with so much bass? Later on, she sat near me whilst James were playing and seemed to be enjoying herself dancing away.
On to James, do not ask me what they played as I have forgotten, well sort of. I think that other correspondents have covered their set. Their new stuff was to me just as good as their old stuff. James certainly knows how to play live and give it all. Tim’s trance like dancing has to be seen to be believed. All my favourite tracks were covered. Sometimes, Johnny Yen and Laid were just brilliant and if they had just played one track I would have thought the whole event awesome.
A few people on the way out were heard to say they wanted to hear ‘Sit Down’. However, to me although it is the song they are known best for, there was no disappointment in the tracks they played.
I only have one criticism and that is, does it have to be so loud that it hurts, or am I missing the point?
And I am depressed, how can you follow an experience like going to see James Live, the studio CDs seem very flat or I have gone very deaf.
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James’ first visit to China to play a festival in Beijing’s Ritan Park
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James – The Highpoint of Heineken Beat Music Festival – Beijing Evening News
For every person present in Ritan Park for the Heineken Beat Music Festival, the 90 minutes from 21:30 to 23:00 on May 13th, will be very hard to forget. The explosive atmosphere created by the UK’s James gave people a real idea of the power of popular rock and roll music. At last Beijing had the chance to experience this kind of passionate and exciting live music performance.
The difference between the wild cheers and waving arms and dancing feet at Ritan and the enthusiasm of the thousands of people last year at the worker’s stadium for Zhang Huimei’s concert was fundamental. First of all, on stage was a famous band from one of the original homes of rock and roll and secondly, the music resounding in the arena was far more likely to set the blood pumping in your veins.
When James was announced, the trees just outside the wall surrounding the altar of the sun were full of people. On May 13th there was an audience of more than ten thousand people in the park, both inside and outside the arena.
China Stands For James – Music 365
Despite the implications of their anthem Sit Down, James have made history in China by becoming the first western band to be granted a standing and dancing crowd.
Normally strict crowd controls were relaxed at the Heineken Beat Music Festival, held at Ritan Park in Beijing, where more than 10,000 people rocked to the Mancunian indie stalwarts’ set. The reaction to the concert has been dramatic enough to spawn two half-hour documentaries on the band, which were recently screened on Chinese TV.
In the Beijing Evening News, China’s most popular newspaper, a review of the concert positively fizzed with enthusiasm: “The explosive atmosphere created by the UK’s James gave people a real idea of the power of popular rock and roll music. At last Beijing had the chance to experience this kind of passionate and exciting live music performance.”
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