None.
North central Milwaukee at the beginning of the fall, its noticeably cooler than Chicago where the daytime high was 30 C wehen we left mid day. In search of a pre-James show dinner, we come across an Oktoberfest celebration around the corner from tonight’s venue. Does it get any better than this? A James concert AND a Deutsche bier festival in the same night!
After one Oktoberfest beer too many, we find it does get even better – its one of those nights where the audience is fantastic and James grow on their energy, turning a good performance into a truly memorable one. Kicking off with the reflective elegance of set opener Drum Thrum, well received as always, James build up momentum with a four song Hey Ma sampler ranging from the great Oh My Heart to new single Waterfall, interspersed with a few older songs like Ring the Bells and Say Something. Then out of the blue the band bring the show to an early climax with a one-off (for this tour) performance of Honest Joe – the great rhythm section of Jim and Dave pound the beat into our heads whilst Saul and Tim trade vocals through megaphones, and Mark and Larry wash the sound with their keyboards and guitar. Before anyone can catch their breath, James move uninterrupted through the starkly different musical musical genres that are I Wanna Go Home and the acoustic Out To Get You, taken to a peak with Saul’s beautiful violin outro. The audience come close to collapsing after nearly 20 straight minutes of vastly different and great music; James are simply amazing.
Tim then takes us Upside with his dancing bears and Andy’s nice closing trumpet solo, before giving us that great single that never was, Whiteboy, with a distinctly different guitar outro from Larry that forms a duet with Andy’s trumpet. The crowd give a lusty welcome to Laid, with Tim reminding them that its actually a James song, before joining in enthusiastically to Sit Down. This tour’s version of Sit Down seems to be an amalgamation of assorted variations of this great song through the years – the warm, spine-tingling piano intro from December 2001, followed by the full band dancebeat entry from the ’98 remix and then closing with the audience singalong that’s been there off and on through the years. It really sounds good. And tonight’s extra long version of Sound seems to be just the right sort of set closer.
The audience chant James for a few minutes before they return to the stage for one of my favourites, Getting Away With It (though I could never figure out the lyrics), with Saul doing a really nice violin part tonight. Though the audience don’t seem to know this song (what a shame) James really pump it out perfect tonight. Then the encore takes a bizarre turn – Tim introduces on stage some bloke who is a local singer. The mystery guest proceeds to announce that the local baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, have won tonight’s game, thus entering major league baseball playoffs for the first time in twenty years; then he professes his love for the music of James and his gratitude for their first show in the US in over ten years, and then concludes his soliloquy by proposing marriage to his girlfriend of a number of years, once she’s found in the crowd. I feel embarrassed for the bride to be. After the show, in the venue’s beautiful downstairs bierstube/restaurant where we’re having a night cap, the groom-to-be enters and seems to be more pleased with his autographed James t-shirt than with his betrothed; best of luck to both of you. So, who’s going to ask if James play weddings?
Back at the concert we came to see, James, displaying their infamous wit, launch into a great take of She’s A Star, after an unusual (violin) bowed guitar intro by Saul. Beautiful. The encore then comes to a drawn out close with the audience doing a wonderful job singing out Sometimes. After a number of minutes, James return to the stage and end the night in a mellow mood with the gorgeous Top of the World. Indeed – that’s where we all are at the close of the show. What a great performance, enhanced by the venue – a thoroughly elegant and balanced ballroom at the Turner Theater. A former German gymnastics club, dating back to the mid-19th century, the ballroom suffered from a fire 50 years ago but was rescued by a local entrepreneur and is now providing a top class venue. The staircase up to the ballroom is decorated with a marble plaque bearing the names of the club members who gave their lives in the American Civil War 1861 – 1865. What a tangent deep into the heart of Milwaukee. Similar artifacts ground the building – it’s not only James that lasts.
Afterwards, we chat a bit with fans who’ve come to Milwaukee for the show from as far away as Chicago and Rome, Georgia. Meandering back towards the Oktoberfest, which as it turns out has just closed for the night, we bump into Tim in front of the tour bus and exchange a few words. We then wander a bit and find a local micro-brewery, still serving past midnight, and close the night with a large weiss bier. A perfect close to a perfect night. Perhaps proof there is a god, wherever she may be.
Once or twice during the set, Larry and Tim make reference to the traditionally dour London audiences that don’t get involved in shows. Tonight, for the hits in the set, the crowd prove that they can rock as well any other crowd in the country and it’s acknowledged by the band. However, during the slower songs and the new album tracks, the response is very different. Even those close to the front appear disinterested, turn round talk to their friends, ask for their photo to be taken and generally do pretty much anything except listen, take in or dance to the new material. Getting to the top ten without selling the album in supermarkets is no mean achievement, it almost seems the band have done it without selling any albums to Londoners as well.
All of this takes the shine off what was, for me, the band’s best performance of the tour so far. James are at their best when they push themselves to the limits, ragged around the edges, driving each other on and almost being on the brink of it all collapsing but pulling through and there’s more excitement in the performance for this. Even the awful sound set up of the venue, uncharacteristic for the Empire based on my prior experiences, can’t take away from that.
Frustration, rightfully restored to the head of the setlist is an absolute blast. You can see from the expressions on his face that Tim is loving being back in this band and being on stage in front of so many people. Combined with Waltzing Along, it’s a great start to the gig and expectations are high that this could surpass anything on the tour to date. Oh My Heart and Boom Boom don’t receive too bad a response for starters, and Ring The Bells brings the moshpit, for what it was, back to life. Hey Ma does bring some recognition for the new material and is sung back by part of the crowd with some gusto as the lighting effects work well with the music to create a very powerful and evocative image.
Bubbles is flat though, the crowd don’t get lifted by the second half of the song. Tim dances like a dervish and frantically half sings half shouts the words, but the crowd just stand, talk and mooch.
Come Home temporarily changes this, Tim jumps down from the stage, checks out the front row and then makes a move for the bar at the right of the stage and clambers on top to deliver the majority of the song. Part of the crowd dance in the way the song compels you to, another part blocks the view of others by having to film the event on their mobile phone cameras for some sort of posterity rather than letting the music take them away
Monsters And Heroes And Men is starting to feel a little flat live, it’s not, for me, recapturing the glory of the album version, particularly the outro section where the music swamps the vocals. Tim standing still with the mirrorball doesn’t really add a lot to the visuals of the song either, where there could be room for some activity to distract the crowd from their important conversations.
I Wanna Go Home gets better every night, live, it’s as if it’s grown up from being the quiet child at the end of the record to being a rowdy teenager out in the venues. It’s not got the crowd interaction tonight it’s had on previous nights but it’s still a highlight of the set.
Next is a welcome return for Honest Joe. Sadly, it’s shorn of much input from Saul tonight, so there’s no second set of vocals through the megaphone as there appeared to be a technical problem. But it still is a monster of a song that pulses and throbs and demonstrates that James are not just going to take the easy path of throwing out hits they’ve played hundreds of times before amongst the new material.
Out To Get You gets a warm reception, it’s not a hit as such, but as it’s on the Best Of, it might as well be. Not being brought out every night, it retains a freshness and an improvisational spirit that is at the absolute core of a lot of what James do.
Waterfall and Whiteboy are switched round in the set. To be honest, it probably worked better before the switch, as the chaos and madness and fun of Whiteboy is a great contrast to the slower tracks that have preceded. Consequently, Waterfall, despite Tim announcing it as the next single, didn’t get the response it’s had at previous dates. It still sounds classic James though, and it’s worth reminding people that once upon a time, twenty or so years ago, songs like Sit Down sat mid-set as new tracks. Hopefully, the strength of tonight’s set will send people out to acquaint themselves with Hey Ma. Whiteboy is almost throwaway, particularly with the swinging lights, but is a whole heap of fun.
The set ends, as it starts, with the crowd going wild for hits. She’s A Star is as bold, as brash and as powerful sounding as it’s ever been. Sound just revels in the quality of the musicians playing it, the twists and turns the song takes every night and a stunning lighting backdrop which soften the crowd up for the killer blow of Tomorrow, which is as fitting a main set closer as James have. It’s got all the ingredients of a classic James single and the words will probably talk to a vast majority of the crowd in a way that singing them back feels like a communion. And there’s lots of moshing going on as well.
Johnny Yen opens up the encore, it doesn’t quite reach the heights of previous nights, the improvised section doesn’t take off as it did elsewhere. Upside sounds magnificent, but the crowd response is quite muted, you can hear the conversations from the bar very clearly as the final chorus is about to kick in, whereas on other nights it’s been characterised by the crowd singing along much stronger than tonight.
Sometimes takes a little encouragement from the band for the crowd to start singing the refrain back, Tim chides them for “singing worse than Ian Brown”, but once the singing starts, it does seem like it’s never going to stop.
So, a great performance by the band, wonderful interaction on stage between them, none of the dour faces or the sheer concentration of previous nights. It’s a shame it was spoiled a little by a crowd that responded to the hits but, in general, didn’t appear that interested in the new material. And before you get all indignant, if you’re reading this and getting upset that I’m saying this, I probably don’t mean you personally. I think if I’d have queued early and stood on the front row on the barrier, this could have been pretty much a perfect gig.
If James were ever hip, it only lasted an instant – perhaps the second that Morrissey, in his Smiths pomp, declared them to be his favourite band. Whether hitching a ride on the Madchester wave with the phenomenal success of “Sit Down”, or working with Brian Eno, Tim Booth’s band have always been viewed with suspicion. This may be because, in place of studied cool, James deal in sometimes pompous, always heartfelt spiritual quests and literary conceits. They are genuinely odd, appealing to quiet misfits – like the man who is having some sort of weeping, nervous breakdown next to me, as James play London with a new album for the first time since 2001
Booth, as he sings on that album Hey Ma, is now “too old for Hamlet, too young for Lear” – “my mirror’s laughing at me,” he admits on new single “Waterfall”. But the main change is not his now-bald head. Booth has always been a violently physical performer, as if jolted across the stage by electric shocks. But a new willingness to be still intensifies the effect when he spasms into action, or clambers into the crowd for “Come Home”.
“Out to Get You”, a song about intimacy, collapsing identity and naked need, is when the real communion with the crowd starts. “She’s a Star”, a positive anthem of insecurity and embattled alienation, is soon followed by Booth inviting us to “shed a skin”. With the new songs sharing the old hits’ Nineties art-populist style, and Andy Diagram back on board (in a polka-dot dress) to blast out trumpet fanfares, Booth’s sometimes fantastical, novelistic words hit cleanly home. The swampy swirl of fast guitars recalls the band’s work with Eno, while other moments hint at their distant beginnings in post-punk Manchester. “Hey Ma” considers today’s Iraq body-bags, but feels no more current than 1986’s “Johnny Yen”, about fame’s corrosive effects.
James’s role as positive-minded outsiders, who have resisted the self-destructive crack-ups they sing about, underpins the show. The sensual openness that also sets them apart is felt on “I Want to Go Home”, where Booth holds a high note with tantric macho. But “Sometimes”, the hit with which they close, is the apogee. “Come on thunder!” Booth appeals, as if wishing to be washed clean. And James’s faithful, unfashionable fans oblige, harmonising on the chorus long after the band stop. Booth soaks it up with his old friends, who look stunned, and proud. They still matter.
When James split in 2001, a reunion appeared an unlikely prospect. After a vibrant 20-year career that saw them enhance the Madchester and Britpop scenes alike, relationships within the band had foundered: singer Tim Booth described their final years as “totally dysfunctional”.
Yet, after sold-out arena shows last year, the Mancunian group recently unveiled a stunningly vivacious comeback album, Hey Ma, which tonight they perform to perfection. Their return excites huge affection: the theatre is full of burly, crop-haired mid-lifers, but many appear to be blinking back tears.
James’s forte has always been giddy, impetuous music powered by effervescent sprung rhythms. A lot of their appeal, however, is down to the enigmatic Booth. His lyrics are all canny feints and wily wordplay, while his shaven head can’t help but reinforce his eerie resemblance to the similarly literate, elliptical Michael Stipe.
The hits are rapturously received, of course, with Booth touring the venue during the trumpet-driven Come Home, even striding along the drinks bar as if carried there on a groundswell of adoration. But the night’s weirdest moment is the new album’s title track, an oblique musing on the post-9/11 world order that sees him chant the jaunty chorus of “Hey Ma, the boys in body bags are coming home in pieces!” as if in contrary celebration.
Johnny Yen sounds as twitchy and delirious as when it was written in 1983. And then, at the close, James stand stock-still and humbled as their devoted fans bawl the chorus of Sometimes back at them for a full 10 minutes. The only smiles broader than those in the crowd are those on the stage.
Friday night in Lincoln and the crowd are up for one of the biggest bands the town have seen for a while. There appears to have been a lot of alcohol consumed by the time the band make the stage, judging by some of the chanting, people falling over and the buzz awaiting the band as they come on just after 9, Tim and Larry continuing the tradition of natty headwear.
Arms are raised and the crowd join in with arms raised, hollering and moshing in the centre. This is continued through the new songs Oh My Heart and Boom Boom, except for the strings section of the latter, which confuses the crowd until the end refrain kicks back in. The light show is simply stunning, something I hadn’t noted on previous nights, having been stood towards the side. There’s no gimmicks, but it’s simple and there’s lots of it. Ring The Bells satisfies those who were already shouting for Laid and Sit Down around me. The crowd in the centre is now a heaving mass as the ending of the song gets more and more frenetic and ragged. Wonderful stuff. Hey Ma sees those around me singing along, a promising sign of the album getting out there; again, it feels a little odd to hear people singing it in celebration and clapping given the subject matter,
Honest Joe gets a very welcome reintroduction and it felt like they’d been watching the 1994 Glastonbury TV performance, which still ranks as my favourite ever music TV broadcast. Saul joins Tim with a second megaphone and the song ends with Tim whirling his microphone around as the song flies off somewhere in the stratosphere with a stunning lighting accompaniment.
Bubbles again stands out amongst the new tracks and Come Home is even more ragged and wonderful than the previous night in Derby, Mark has some great keyboard parts in this version which make it stand out from the versions on last year’s tour. Of Monsters and Heroes and Men and I Wanna Go Home bring the pace down, but not the intensity of the set, the latter gets better every night. Whiteboy is still a little messy, but in a good way, as if the band are racing Tim through the song. Waterfall, apart from the reintroduction of Honest Joe, is the highlight, it doesn’t sound out of place at the start of the medley of hits that close the set and the crowd react accordingly. Tim asks people at the end to go out and buy the album today to get it into the Top Ten. Let’s hope they take heed.
The medley of hits to close the set has the already steaming hot venue getting even hotter. She’s A Star is played pretty straight, whilst Sound takes a whole new set of twists and turns from the previous night and Tomorrow sits well at the end of the set.
Coming back for the encore, the band decide to change the set and play Say Something. I wish they hadn’t. It’s a personal thing, but I think this is the one song of the “hits” that hasn’t aged well. It doesn’t have the sheer power of Tomorrow or She’s A Star and doesn’t get too much of a retreatment. But given the crowd’s reaction, I think it’s clearly a personal thing. Upside doesn’t disappoint again and surely has to be a single after Waterfall, the break before the final chorus seems to get longer and longer, and the key change at the end of it gets the adrenalin flowing every time.
Sometimes is last and as in previous nights ends with the crowd singing back the refrain to the band. It’s a fine line doing this every night. Whilst some nights it’s completely spontaneous and the crowd start immediately, it took a while last night, and I don’t think it’s something that should be forced. It fell the right side of the line last night, just. I’d hope if it gets to the point where it’s not spontaneous they could blast into another song and get the crowd going again. Once the crowd do sing though, it’s a stunning sight, and a bit of two fingers to those who still think the band are a one-song pony.
So, not as good as Derby, but not a bad gig. The crowd reaction was probably better to be fair, but how much you can enjoy a gig is often decided by those around you. There was no reason, for example, for the guy stood in front of me at one stage to suddenly launch an empty bottle into the middle of the crowd for no other reason than it was empty, or the guy who barged me out of my place and then stood trying to talk to me during a slow song about how it was someone or others first gig and got aggrieved when I told him to fuck off. We were also treated pre-gig to a dying swan impersonation from a woman old enough to know better. All good fun.
Onto Liverpool tonight.
None.
Here we go again, here we go again, the show is just beginning. Just when you thought things couldn’t get better, this band just, almost effortlessly, step up and deliver something more intense and more passionate than last time. Thursday’s show had been a very high watermark for James in terms of London gigs, where the audiences had traditionally been less enthusiastic, less ready to celebrate with the band. Tonight just raised that bar, not just in terms of London, but the whole tour.
Come Home opens the show. As the previous night, it starts with the band behind a curtain, which drops to reveal them just as Tim starts the lyrics. But it’s different, the opening doesn’t give away the song, the fluidity in the new arrangements allow Larry and Mark to paint different guitar lines and keyboards over the base of Dave’s drums and Jim’s bass. The crowd are already eating out of the band’s hands.
Destiny Calling, Ring The Bells and Seven merely confirm the initial impression that this is going to be another special night in what is becoming an affirmation that James are here to claim their rightful crown as the most exciting live band in the country. There’s no regimented setlist, no NME fuelled hype that leaves half the crowd knowing three or four big hits and nothing else. If you take your eyes off Tim, you miss Saul, who is always, if nothing else, unpredictable, or Larry, who is an absolute joy to watch. You have to wonder what would have happened had he not left.
Who Are You seems to confirm that although Radio 1 is too interested in the Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian et al – good bands but limited in their scope, the band’s music is getting across to some of their audience. The internet, if used judiciously, could be a big big tool for James to get themselves back into the wider public perception. That and Chameleon do calm down the crowd as they’re not as well known as what’s gone before, but the reception at the end is no less muted.
Honest Joe leaves people standing open-mouthed. This side of James, also evidenced by tracks such as Stutter and Jam J when played live, isn’t one that’s too familiar, but the power, the excitement, the adrenalin and the sheer wall of noise leave many stood around me simply awestruck.
As if to hammer home the contrast, Lullaby follows. It’s given the respect the subject matter and the fragility of the song deserve. With a few notable exceptions, the crowds on this tour have been exceptionally receptive to the nuggets James have mined from their back catalogue. Riders is a case in point. A twenty year old album track is met with hands in the air clapping, the song as fresh as it ever was, a tumult of applause at the point the song jerks to a halt before starting again.
Out To Get You is, as it has been since it was reintroduced, one of the highlights of the set. The crowd see it as a rallying cry. Some join in Larry’s backing vocals, some play Tim, some wave their arms in the air, and the rest just stand in awe. At point, Saul, Jim, Larry and Tim converge centre stage, then Jim faces Larry, whilst Tim faces Saul, inches away from each other’s faces. The reception is simply astonishing. If you were to put yourself in the band’s shoes, this would have to be the ultimate confirmation that this is where they should be, that they’re doing the right thing. And you’d be blown away by this reaction.
Don’t Wait That Long is the unfortunate song left to follow in its wake. It’s the one possible lower point in the evening. The crowd seems to have temporarily shot its load and the end section is a little messy, but it’s all relative I guess.
Before launching into Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release], Tim urges London to let down its image as capital of cool. I think the audience already had. Upside is, again, everything that’s exciting, fresh and alive about this reunion. Half-finished maybe, but that’s half the beauty of it. It’s full of twists and turns, musically. Lyrically it’s developed into a song about missing a loved one away from home (hopefully after only a week on the road, it’s not a problem James are going to need to deal with).
Getting Away With It gets the audience more mobile as James move back to more familiar territory for the closing section of the show. Sometimes is thrown in next to the surprise of many. It just sends the moshpit wilder and further back than it had been previously. Tomorrow does the same. There’s a communication between band and audience that no other band I’ve ever seen has managed to create.
Sit Down merely confirms victory for James. Again, sung very straight, it reminds the whole world that behind the saturation of radio play, it being the only song infidels know, the numerous single versions, it’s a fucking great song. It’s a call to arms, but also a very personal intimate song in a way that very few songs can ever hope to achieve. The crowd don’t care that they’re not given the chance to sing it themselves. The band leave the stage, Tim telling the audience that they’re delighted to be back, they’re glad they’ve done it because it is the right thing to do.
Gold Mother opens the encore and sees Tim pull some carefully placed dancers onto stage to join what is already a chaotic mess. Tim prowls the stage, dancing with everyone he can find, Larry and Saul go walkabout, the strobes penetrate the darkness, the song goes down alley after alley, it’s stunning stuff.
Waltzing Along starts with the crowd singing the opening guitar part which makes Larry crease laughing. That and first encore closer Laid have the crowd back in mosh mode, Laid’s extended ending bringing the set to a close.
One quick side-stage conversation later and they come back for the slowed down then normal speed She’s A Star. As I’ve said before, it’s an odd set closer, given the pace at which it’s performed. The crowd naturally love it.
So another great show, on a par with the second night in Glasgow as the top show of the tour so far. The way however the band have grown in confidence from night to night and the anticipation in their hometown, suggests tonight’s gig might just be something extra special.
Well, that was a warm one. This was my first visit to the main hall of Birmingham’s Carling Academy and it’s an interesting venue, wide and not very deep with a standing balcony. For sold out gigs, this creates the problem that everyone wants to be downstairs so by the time James come on stage, it’s absolutely solid downstairs even at the side where those of who like to have a dance and a groove retire to. The venue clearly had airconditioning yet they were loathe to use it, even despite Tim’s comments early in the set about the sweat that was being created. The sound system was excellent, once some guitar feedback had been ironed out early on.
As with most of the recent shows, the set opened with Come Home. Immediately, the venue was transformed into one heaving mass of people, trying desperately to find space to dance and mosh and holler the words back at Tim. Again, the song was loose, fluid, leaving Larry lots of space to weave his magic over the song. Destiny Calling followed and benefitted from an extended, elongated, improvised ending as the crowd went mental. Ring The Bells just kept the momentum going, building to a stunning climax of Tim shouting over the ending as the band ratcheted the noise up another notch.
Seven subdues the audience a little, which is surprisingly, considering it does appear on the Best Of and the ecstatic response for Hymn From A Village a little later (which appears after it). The intro remains shortened, and works better that way in all honestly. It’s such an impassioned song, leading one guy to declare his heart to Tim. A cry of “play Johnny Yen, Tim” gets mistaken for “suck my fucking tit” causing much amusement to crowd and band alike.
Who Are You and Chameleon are thrown in together and the crowd stand, listen, a few continue dancing, the odd person (not as in strange) sing along. Chameleon gets stronger on each play, Tim’s end section lyrics are still pretty indecipherable which is a real shame.
Honest Joe cranks up, the strobes start, people fall over as they try to move around in the dark. It sounds great but doesn’t quite have the massive impact it has had on other nights, the ending seems a little flat and the crowd, generally, don’t quite know what to make of it.
Really Hard, Out To Get You, She’s A Star and Five-O slow the pace down and there’s an enthusiastic reception to this section of the show. The four songs really demonstrates Larry’s mastery of the guitar and what James missed on his departure. As one Red hero hit top form a hundred miles away, another Red legend led James, holding the audience spellbound. Out To Get You was the highlight of the whole show, the band descending into an improvised end section with Saul, Tim and Larry forming a triangle centre stage, Jim edging towards them. The audience applause, as in Glasgow and Newcastle left the band stunned and continued for a couple of minutes. She’s A Star definitely fits in better in the middle section too as it fits in more with the mood and breaks up the lesser known songs for those not so familiar with the back catalogue.
The lyric sheets come out again which can only mean one thing, Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release]. Tim’s still playing around with the lyrics but the chorus seems to be fixed and there’s a couple singing along. The key change is immense as the band take the song to its end with Tim swirling around stage, still affected by his shoulder injury.
Getting Away With It, Say Something, Tomorrow and Sit Down close the set. The crowd get warmer and warmer and messier as the show builds to its end. Tim comes into the crowd for Say Something causing a melee to get close to him that gave others a little room to dance. Tomorrow is wild, before the crowd recognise the first bars of Sit Down and sing along, the smiles of the band melting into one as the whole of Birmingham seem to be singing along.
Despite not having rehearsed it before the day, James play Hymn From A Village, following much requesting from The Twang (witnessed by me the night before). It’s mental, all over the place, but brilliant stuff. Gold Mother again sounds completely different from previous nights, but has the same effect on the crowd, who lose themselves in the frenzy. Laid and Sometimes close the set and send the whole place into raptures.
This was a great gig, it didn’t quite meet the top of the barometer standards of the second night in Glasgow and Newcastle, but that’s a horrendous benchmark to set a band night after night. A fresh set, fresh life in the playing, freshness in the crowd (well, apart from the sweat). Lovely stuff.
WHEN James announced they were to tour after re-uniting earlier this year the tickets sold out in a matter of hours.
The lasting popularity of the early ‘Madchester’ frontrunners stands as a testament to the irresistible appeal and durability of their string of hit singles which spanned the 1990s.
By combining euphoric, bouncing melodes with lyrics about frustration, despair and alienation James found an unlikely recipe for success which yielded Waltzing Along, Born Of Frustration and fans’ favourite Sit Down. Audaciously unique explorations about sexual taboos – Laid and How Was It For You? – and fame – Destiny Calling – ensure their back catalogue is as individual as it is brilliant.
But this James reunion is far more than just a greatest hits tour and singer Tim Booth is quick to stress the band’s desire to write and record new songs.
Indeed a sizeable portion of this gig was turned over to airing fresh material – so fresh that Booth required written notes to remind him of the lyrics to one song he had amended the night before.
Herein lies the problem, much of this new material just does not sound like the James that so many people love and struggles to stand shoulder to shoulder with the earlier, catchier material.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons the band chose to axe so many favourite tunes from the set list. Waltzing Along, How Was It For You? were both disappointingly absent, as was the entirety of the much lauded Millionaires album.
Alternatively perhaps the band have tired of endlessly repeating their old songs and are simply revelling in the opportunity to play something new. That would certainly account for the band’s heavy harmonising and reinvention on songs such as She’s A Star and Sit Down.
Whatever the reasons for this apparent shift of direction James would be well advised to think long and hard before abandoning the musical formula and the back catalogue which propelled them to superstardom.
The fact that their faithful rendition of Laid was the clear highlight of this gig and provoked a state of near ecstasy among the crowd was a clear indication of what James’ legion of fans want more of the same. After two and a half decades the band have certainly earned the right to experiment and to reinvent themselves – even if that means more music like the meandering, conceptual piece about contractions which cluttered their encore.
James undoubtedly still have the songs and the stage presence to win a whole new generation of adoring fans.
But on this evidence there remains a question mark over whether their new-look material can match the success of the old.
It’s a sign of a truly great band that they can come out in front of a baying audience and play a set that’s off the wall, unexpected, full of unfamiliar songs and they depart with the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands, begging for more. James, last night, did all that and more. This was the band that Jim, Larry and Tim have enthused about in their interviews. For those of us fortunate enough to have been born in the right place and the right time, this was the James we fell in love with, the James that had seduced us in with songs bordering on pure pop only to be drawn into a darker murkier world of improvisation, of sets made up on the hoof, of songs so fragile that they could soar or crash at any minute depending on where the band took it, of sets that didn’t just play to what was safe, what the audience wanted to hear and still sent everyone home happy. Most of you probably read last night’s review where I questioned the band balls to go back to that place. I doubt they read that review, but I probably owe them an apology for doubting them and not taking them at their word.
The set, as the previous night, opened with a series of singles, Come Home immediately turning the Academy floor into a heaving mass. Ring The Bells, pulled forward from the end of the set, keeps the crowd going with its rollercoaster ride to an imperious end which saw Tim (perhaps not wisely) cast off the shackles of his ongoing shoulder problem and launch into full-on dancing. Waltzing Along kept the pace up, the crowd imitating the opening guitar parts and generally going mental. Seven is shorn of its extended opening section and benefits from a new arrangement with Dave’s drumming much higher in the mix.
Who Are You came next, introduced as a new song and the dancing became restricted to pockets, which emphasises the problem new James are going to face. Radio play isn’t necessarily going to be forthcoming because James are not perceived as an exciting new band (for exciting read loud guitars and shouty vocals) in terms of Radio 1 and not in the middle of the road enough for Radio 2. The way James are going to get their new material across to the people whose lives will be bettered by hearing it is word of mouth and live. Whilst not expansive in the sense Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release] is later, or as unlike anything they’ve done before as Chameleon, it’s a great pop song / single to continue the family line.
Play Dead is thrown back into the mix and people just stop and stare at a James that they hadn’t seen or heard before. By the time the song reaches it’s Tim / Saul / Larry unaccompanied vocal ending, the crowd are mesmerised. There’s not much dancing going on, but there sure isn’t much talking either. The reception at the end really says it all. Similarly, Heavens keeps the pace going, there are pockets of dancing around the floor as those more acquainted with the back catalogue revel in hearing things they thought they’d never hear James play again.
Riders, however, is the defining moment for me of the tour and the reunion so far. I’m not a huge fan of the studio version, it doesn’t capture what the band, even back in the days of Gavan, did with it on stage. Driven by Dave’s drumming and accompanied by a very dark / light / dark strobe effect, when it reaches the mid-song stop, the crowd just erupt. A twenty year old song from the second half of James’ lowest selling studio album has just taken 2000 people by the scruff of the neck, dragged them kicking and screaming into James’ world.
Just to make things harder for the crowd, as if to test them further, Chain Mail makes a return to the set. I’m still not overly convinced by the slowed down drawn out delivery of it, but it’s stronger tonight, driven on by the interaction of the band, sensing they’ve taken on the crowd with this set and are emerging the other side victorious (not that there’s any losers tonight). I think I came to the conclusion that a second chorus earlier in the song would make this perfect.
You’ve heard me already champion Upside Downside before and I stand by every word. Tim’s still playing with the words, but the chorus now seems fully defined, the song still explodes into a wonderful stretched out musical ending that rams home the point that whilst Tim takes the centre of attention, James are a band in the truest sense of the word. Without one of the elements they lose more than 1/6th of what they are. With Larry back, the equilibrium is restored.
The opening bars of Out To Get You create delirium in the crowd. It seems to have been slightly speeded up but it doesn’t detract from the power and mastery of the slower songs that James has always had, but which got lost towards the end of the previous incarnation. The crowd holler their appreciation for a good two to three minutes at the end, preventing the band from moving on in the set by the loudness and length of the reaction. Nothing from the previous night matched it.
Getting Away With It gets a fantastic reception. For a number 22 single off an album that didn’t make the Top 10, it’s amazing that everyone in the building seems to know the song that’s become an integral part of the James live set as anything else.
Chameleon follows and continues to grow as the band are more comfortable with playing it. No technical glitches tonight, the crowd mosh away and Tim drops the yelp. Bands of this age shouldn’t be writing songs like that, if you believe the music press. Honest Joe follows and just adds to the generation defying power of James (and their audience).
Tomorrow and Sit Down finish off the main set. Tomorrow is driven by a dual guitar assault from Saul and Larry underpinned by Jim’s bass. The reaction, and I keep on saying this, is delirious. Sit Down is kept to its four minutes, yet gives the crowd the chance to sing along, jump along, beam like madmen.
The encore starts with Gold Mother and goes back to giving the band the chance to show off their improvisational talents. The song sounds all over the place but makes perfect sense. Laid has been to me a little staid so far. It’s too simple a song to do anything too drastic with, but tonight it’s played with a fire and emotion that transcends that. The crowd obviously love it. As they do Sometimes, which brings the first encore to a close with a whirl of guitars driving the song to its conclusion.
There’s no way anyone is leaving without the band coming back for more. The acoustic-led She’s A Star has the crowd eating out of the band’s palm. Dripping with emotion in Tim’s vocals, matched by the crowd’s singing and the explosion of the song at the end as the instruments crash in. Wonderful wonderful stuff. Say Something is then added as a bonus, given that noone’s leaving yet. Tim comes down into the crowd, thinks about standing on the barrier and then leaps it and sings the song with everyone else on the floor. I think at this point the band would play all night had they been allowed, Larry even cheekily trying to start How Was It For You to dare the venue to cut them off.
Tonight was what James are, what James were, and hopefully always will be. They took on a crowd that had expectations of what they wanted, they flew in the face of them, they won the crowd over and the reaction at the end was no different to the previous night. Yet, people will have gone home having heard this whole new side to James that they may not have seen or known before. That is James. They’re no one-hit, best-of wonders. They were the most exhilarating, unpredictable and damn exciting live band on the planet. Tonight they were again. Welcome back. Pleased To Meet You.
Context Alert – All these reviews are written on the night of the show to try and ensure that they contain all the expectation, adrenalin and passion of the performance. I make no apologies for that – the rush you get at a James show, driven on by the music and the performance is something unique, something special that very few bands can give you. The reviews are meant to be impassioned and in that sense if the reviewer is disappointed with the show, it isn’t always going to be positive. In this context, this show was a disappointment, not because of the band’s performance, which I hope comes across in the review (although in the cold light of day it doesn’t as much as it should), but because of the setlist. As it transpires, this was part of a masterplan based on the expectation that a significant part of the crowd would be attending both nights and therefore there would be a “hits” set and a different set the second night. Obviously that wouldn’t be apparent at the time the review was written.
So this reads very harshly, and needs to be taken with the reviews of the other shows on the tour where James clearly demonstrate they absolutely have the balls to take on an audience with a set of songs they may not necessarily have heard before and win them over.
Please bear this in mind whilst reading and apologies to anyone who might have been offended by what was written.
The blokes who committed the violence are still cowards though.
Dear James
Interesting gig last night, wasn’t it boys? Just trying to work something out though. I’ve been reading your interviews about this reunion being all about something new, something different, so I’m a little confused as to what happened last night.
The set you played last night, you could have come back and played in 2002 and done that set in Glasgow. And again in 2003, and 2004, and 2005, and 2006 and last night too. And tomorrow. And you could do it next year too, no need to write a new album, go and rehearse for a few weeks and come out and play the same old stuff and away you go, thousands of people eating out the palm of your hand. Particularly, if the performance is that strong. But you’ve been telling us that this isn’t what new James is all about. In fact, it’s what you’re most frightened of in this reunion..
So I’ve come to the conclusion you were being incredibly clever. You’d realised this crowd, and I’m not counting the people who’ve kept the faith and waited for this rather than following the reunion hype, really wasn’t ever going to get Really Hard and Chain Mail or the other half of the 45 songs you’ve rehearsed but not yet played live and gone with what they want to hear. The reaction to Waltzing Along and Say Something, reintroduced into the set, says it’s a smart move and they sounded fantastic. And if it’s there to buy time and buy money from a record label to fund your new album then good on you. Just remember though there are those of us who’ve waited a long time for you to come back and are desperate for the type of James that you’ve enthused so much about in recent interviews.
The problem is that, and I hope you’re aware of it, you’ve now created an expectation that next time James come to town, it’ll be a celebration gig, it’ll be the tracks from the first James album most of the crowd own (The Best Of) and maybe one or two from their second James album (Fresh As A Daisy – Tesco version of course). Try and play your new stuff and noone will care unless it sounds like Sit Down 2008. Just like they pretty much didn’t tonight when Who Are You and Chameleon were played. They’re fucking great songs, up there with anything you’ve done before, as is Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release] and I’m sure you’ve got a whole bag of them on DATs and minidiscs and whatever from your jamming sessions.
At least the latter provoked a reaction with the real men who felt a group of them attacking a guy who was protecting his girlfriend from being barged and elbowed is what real men do. Play a song about child abuse and listen to them whistling and clapping because that’s what it was written for, wasn’t it? A really great crowd will stand and listen when you throw something different in – last night was not a great crowd.
So anyway to the gig, Glasgow, home of the best parties at gigs, opened up with Come Home, Destiny Calling, Waltzing Along and Seven. The two new songs, Who Are You and Chameleon, came next, and away from the crowds that had picked up on the vitality and freshness of the new material, fell pretty flat in terms of reaction. Who Are You sounded great though, with bass and Saul’s second guitar added into Larry’s opening. Lullaby would have sounded great if you could have heard it over the chatter, the same applied to Fine and Five-O, met with random clapping and whistling and the obligatory oh-so-funny sport of throwing a pint in the air and seeing where it lands.
Johnny Yen got a massive reception from the crowd, a new addition, but really part of the Best Of after Best Of sets of the late nineties and early noughties (or whatever they’re called). Tim referenced Pete Doherty and the song as ever took on a different direction and deserved the accolade it got from the audience, whether or not that’s what they were actually cheering for. Say Something saw Tim out in the audience and roadtesting his damaged shoulder ligaments by putting them to the mercy of a baying crowd.
Honest Joe was stunning though, superb lights, great guitar playing, mesmerising drumming. The crowd loved it, it’s a shame they weren’t exposed to more of the riskier side of James live.
The last seven songs followed a familiar pattern, Getting Away With It, Ring The Bells, Sit Down, Gold Mother, Laid, Sometimes and She’s A Star. To be honest having witnessed a bloke being kicked in the face on the floor by the best crowds in the world (copyright – cliche about Glasgow audiences) and security initially attempting to throw the victim out, I wasn’t particularly in the mood to enjoy, so retreated to the bar to listen to various hilarious karaoke attempts at the words. Still, everyone else seemed to be happy.
So, James, you’ve done a lot of talking about this reunion. You’ve made your vision of the future of James very clear. You don’t want to go back to being a churning out the hits machine. To do that you have got to have the balls to take on an audience like that and win them over without resorting to the cheap shots of hit after hit after hit. True, the nature of an ever-changing setlist will mean you’ll play some more hits-heavy sets than others. But the old James you talk about so passionately always used to take on audiences, make them listen to your new stuff or your choices from the past, you’re perfectly capable of doing so, you’re happy to tell all and sundry you do. To quote a line from some song or other, I need proof before belief.
What to expect? Nearly six years since this writer had last seen James and, even then, had I seen the real James? I didn’t know my expectations. Would this be for better or worse? I just wanted to see an old friend. And what do you do when you see an old friend? Do you mock the fact they might have changed, or fight with them over trivial matters you would have once agreed on? I would hope not. James could have walked onstage wearing salmon-pink shirts, neckerchiefs, spandex, or seventies tennis shorts, playing all the songs I most hated, and I wouldn’t have much cared to be honest. They’ve really earned that kind of unconditional support. No, they might not want it, and I’d be disappointed if they did. In their prime, James were the best band in the world – one of the greatest ever. But it was impossible for them to still be that band. Their competition is younger, fresher and hungrier, there is no denying. It would be to re-define the laws of nature for them to still be that band. So I arrived at the Carling Academy in Glasgow, ready to shake the hand of that old friend and not to judge.
The James of 2007 are a bit like Ryan Giggs. A “genius” in his younger days who could dazzle the greatest of football defences with a combination of frenetic skill and pace. Now approaching the twilight of his career, he has long since lost the youthful energy and yard of pace that once defined him. However, crucially, despite the fact he is no longer the same player, he is still a great player (recently nominated for Player Of The Year in England for the first ever time). Giggs, who also hails from Manchester, might well be, and if not, should be James’ latest role model. Because, as a band, it seems that he is exactly what James should now be about. Forget that you’re all ageing or even balding, and adapt. Show your thick-skin, out-think and out-muscle the opposition, not out-skill them, do the basics really well, show your dogged resistance, don’t try to be the same band you once were, because it just won’t work. During the first few songs of the night, I quickly realised this. I watched them pace modestly through a set where, while watching, I could sense that loss of pace and frantic energy I had witnessed in countless videos and television programmes from the early nineties. However, to close my eyes and listen, I could hear a real strength and stability to what they were playing. At odds with any of my fears, there was no hint of sloppy rhythm, mistaken chords or missed notes ; nothing of the sort. And where these characteristics would once have fitted in, and been a staple of all great James sets, they simply can’t “get away with it” anymore. What James are now showing is a blissful confidence.
For the first time it seems to me that they are absolutely sure of themselves – they know their place, they know their strengths, they know their fans and they play to them all. In particular, I really don’t think the James from the previous ten years would dare, in an atmosphere such as this, to dramatically alter a song like ‘She’s A Star quite the way they did. They have rearranged what was a big, surging, ‘pop’ hit with a more mellow but still uplifting take that is a far greater, more beautiful and all-in-all better tribute to both the song and the band. But that’s not to say James can’t still mix it. For a band of their years, they do it better than could be expected. They just do it with a little bit more assurance and maturity than before. We’re treated to plenty of the hits tonight – ‘Come Home’, ‘Destiny Calling’, ‘Waltzing Along’, ‘Say Something’, ‘Getting Away With It’, ‘Ring The Bells’, ‘Sit Down’, ‘Laid’, ‘Sometimes’ – and while knowing that many of them might well have seen better days, it doesn’t mean to say they aren’t brilliant. One of them, ‘Seven’, has actually never sounded better.
The gears were shifted further forward with the much-loved Johnny Yen. The band drop their guard and lay down the restrained approach for five minutes of unbridled enthusiasm and emotion. For just a few seconds here and there you could have sworn you were watching them in 1990, at Glastonbury, GMex, Alton Towers, or any of the other highlights in their career. Dave both strokes and hammers at the drums, building the second-half of the song, teasing the audience, leaving them breathless and still dying for more. And, to consider James are now more than 25 years old, this really shouldn’t happen with quite such fervour.
Other highlights included a mesmerising ‘Honest Joe’, which is audibly back to its best, and ‘Gold Mother’, now a visual treat ; the stage backdrop filled with a hypnotic montage of shots from inside the female womb, all set to the band’s cacophonic, tribal yelling and chanting. Nobody could watch this and say James were living on their past. They were taking old material and breathing new life into it. Not better than before, just different. And that’s exactly what we want.
The old ideals of wanting to change the set-list around, and even play older material, they count for nothing if the performance isn’t right. And it seems to me that, for all the years and all the mileage, James are still managing to do it right. The following evening saw ‘Riders’ return to the set and, with the added combination of Geoff Buckley’s lighting, blow everyone, including ‘The Best Of Brigade’ away. Larry’s return is also crucial. Where Adrian lacked a connection and a chemistry on-stage with the band, Larry produces these things effortlessly. He is charming, fun, fascinating to watch, and if that’s not enough, a bloody good guitar player too. Maybe the only addition to the set that didn’t work over both evenings was Chain Mail. Here, again, there is a more restrained approach, although not just visibly, but audibly, as Tim ditches the falsetto opening and the song is allowed to limp along in a first-gear that should be raised higher and quicker. Still a great song, and a great addition to the set, but not quite the best of versions yet.
So, what to expect in the future? Have James raised the bar for themselves here? Adrenalin on a tour like this, the first in so many years, is clearly a big factor. The next tour will be the time to judge. We’ve remade our acquaintances, said hello, embraced and shown them how much we’ve missed them. And from witnessing the reaction of the band in Glasgow – the heart-thumping gestures from Tim and the ear-to-ear grins adorned on all their faces – I think they probably missed us too.
AS the surging synth of Nineties hit Come Home whipped the Academy into a heaving frenzy, it seemed James HAD come home – despite hailing from Manchester.
Celtic gaffer Gordon Strachan was in the crowd and the adulation received by Tim Booth and his band was akin to the fiercest football fanaticism.
The favourites were here. Destiny Calling, Say Something, Johnny Yen and Sit Down. And Sometimes remains as spellbinding now as it ever was.
But it was the elegantly rearranged encore of She’s A Star, drenched in slide and acoustic guitars, which was carried by the crowd, every one getting Laid on nostalgia.
Arriving on stage fifteen minutes later than scheduled, James opened the set with a medley of singles. Eschewing normal opener Seven, they opted to crash in with Destiny Calling, an excellent choice to get the crowd into the mood. Against a screen backdrop of different colour daisies opening and closing, the crowd hollered back every word in unison. This continued through an impassioned Come Home. Immediately noticeable, and a real theme running through the evening (and hopefully the rest of the tour) was the different arrangement from the previous night’s show in Dublin. Mark, in particular, was higher in the mix than previously and the subtlety of some of his keyboard playing was marked across the set. Maybe it’s the superior sound system in Carlisle to what had been heard before, but the music took on a life of its own tonight. Stood in front of Larry at the side, you could stand and watch in awe at his guitar work and hear exactly what he was playing without everything muddying into one. Tim urged the audience to have unadultered fun, un-English fun. Seven found its way back into the set next and fitted in more comfortably away from opening the set.
Tim introduced Who Are You as the new single which was getting radio play. An extended opening from Larry is the highlight of the song, the crowd reaction was great though for a song many of them would not yet have heard.
One of the highlights of the set followed. Play Dead appears to have cemented itself into the set and gives the band the chance to show the more electronic side to their music. Backed with swirling blue lights, Tim lost himself in the song, dancing, albeit gingerly with his still-injured shoulder before the stunning crescendo of Tim, Larry and Saul singing in unison.
The new version of Chain Mail benefits each night from the familiarity of the new arrangement and gets a good reaction from the crowd, most of whom, it has to be suspected, are here for the hits. Saul comments that the song is a very old song played by very old people except him who has never aged. Must be something to do with the magic stone he was showing to fans at the airport on Wednesday morning.
The Laid track, Lullaby, gets its first airing of the reunion, and the crowd pay the track due respect. It appears to be played a little faster than the album version, but still demonstrates that James do have mastery of the slower songs in their canon as well, despite this really being the first outing so far for any of them.
Really Hard is simply stunning, the real success of all the songs that have been resurrected to date. There are lots of shouts for Johnny Yen tonight, but I’d gladly not hear it again if it meant this was played in its place. Again, it sounds different. Mark’s keyboards add colour and edge, Jim and Larry’s guitar playing ekes out every possible emotion out of the song. Similarly, Five-O demands similar emotions from the listener. James were in their peak (for me 1991-1993) about so much more than just the big hits. Set highlights were the tracks you didn’t expect or that they didn’t play that often or were unexpected.
Tim, sensing a little unease in the crowd at the lack of hits, addresses it by telling them that the reunion isn’t meant to be a dead thing, that it needs to be alive. The new song Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release] positively breathes life, vitality and the promise of a glittering future to come, artistically if not commercially. With the lyrics bedded down a little more and the sound clearer, the chorus appears to be about missing a loved one “Upside love you, downside miss you. I’m still here, you’re out there. Musically, it’s stunning, we get another different arrangement of it tonight, the end section doesn’t soar in the way of previous nights but goes off in a different direction that is no less effective. I just hope that once this tour is over, the band do get the time Jim has alluded to and get back into the studio and give us a new album by the end of the year, because that’s what this reunion is really about.
Honest Joe was pretty much everything those of us campaigning for its inclusion wanted it to be. Against a very minimalist lighting background with some stunning strobework, the song built to a fantastically frenetic conclusion with Tim spinning around with his microphone, Saul playing violin and Dave holding the whole thing together. Even the annoying prick who thought we wanted to hear his whistling throughout most of the rest of the set couldn’t spoil this one.
Still worrying about the audience reaction, Tim tells them that they only have to wait a few more minutes before. It actually took a bit longer as we got an extended opening from Larry which was sounding fantastic until they stopped as there was some confusion as to how the rest of the band should start it. The song itself grows with every play as the band get more familiar with it, and Tim is less confined by needing lyric sheets so can make use of the wider spaces of the stages they’re playing on.
The band end the main set with four truimphant singles – Getting Away With It (All Messed Up), Ring The Bells, How Was It For You and Sit Down. Tim amusingly turns down requests from the audience by informing them they won’t change their path by people shouting out random songs for them to play. The songs get the rest of the crowd going, although it’s relatively subdued compared to the final years of James. Although the band are fresh as a daisy, to excuse the bad play on words, the audience has got a little older, and I think a little wiser. Sit Down, apart from an extended intro from Mark, is pretty true to the original (well the 1991 original) and benefits from not being the communal singalong that it could very easily become if the band were there for a greatest hits, let’s pretend it’s 1991 set.
Taking seemingly forever to come back for the encore, they come back and change the order of the encore. They open it with She’s A Star. The version they play is gorgeous, slowed down, emphasising Larry’s slide guitar, but for me, doesn’t work in the live environment. It isn’t the band’s fault, you can’t really play such a huge hit slowed down like that without the crowd hollering back every word and thus taking away the intimacy that the delivery is giving the song. A real real shame, but hopefully the band will use this approach to the song if they do radio sessions to support the album release.
Gold Mother follows, completely different in approach from the previous renditions. It almost stagnates in the middle section, but the improvisation of the band pulls it back from the brink and the ending is triumphant.
Laid is introduced as “the Mexican one” and is probably the straightest rendition of any song tonight, with an extended ending that’s familiar from the past. The song is so simple and so effective as it is, I’m not sure there’s much you could do with it. The crowd go bonkers.
Tim starts off talking to the crowd about asking them to leave emails before breaking into laughter, Saul joins in the banter, Tim asks everyone to “support their local band” so everything doesn’t end up sanitised like Westlife. He berates security for telling a girl to get down off someone’s shoulders and then declares he will go and stand on her shoulders (not really a good idea, Tim!), then decides it’s a bad idea because it’s difficult to sing. The band start playing so he decides to go in anyway and climbs onto the barrier where he gets mobbed by the crowd. It’s a sign of the times that he also has digital cameras and mobile phones inches from his face recording the moment. Given he’s got no minder to protect him as he had in the past and that he’s nursing a damaged shoulder, it’s maybe not the smartest thing to do, but it shows that the fire is still there, and tonight demonstrates that, not just with Tim but the whole band. Throughout the set, backing vocals appear to be added by Jim, Larry and Saul when they feel like adding them. It works brilliantly, it’s spontaneous, and most importantly of all it’s JAMES! Sometimes ends with Tim jumping back on stage (ignoring the step that’s been made for him) and the band improvising and extending the song.
And then they’re gone. James 2007 triumph in a way that negates fears that this is a reunion simply to fill bank balances. Throughout the set, they take risks, they play almost an hour in the middle without a hint of a single, the songs are structured to allow improvisation and with the lighting and improved sound of these venues, the quality of the songs and the musicianship radiate through.
THIS warm-up show for a UK tour was one of the very first by indie band James since they reformed after disappearing off the scene five years ago.
After a string of top 40 hits in the 1990s, best known of which was Sit Down, lead singer Tim Booth left in 2001, and the band hadn’t been heard of since.
The reformed band are the same six who featured on the top 10 albums Laid and Seven and they came on looking relaxed, confident and were obviously very happy to be here – and appeared humbly delighted with the reception given to ‘a bunch of old farts’.
They kicked off with a few old favourites, starting with Come Home, then treated us to some new numbers, including Who Are You?, which, Tim modestly said, had “been receiving some radio play” plus one so new the lyrics had only been written yesterday and Tim read them from a sheet.
It sounded like the old James, but fresh and vibrant, and if the rest of a new album is this strong it’ll be well worth the wait.
Tim has lost none of his vocal range and his voice has lost none of its strength. He hasn’t changed his distinctive, manic dancing style in any way either, much to the delight of the audience and the rest of the band matched his enthusiasm and energy.
They gave us plenty of other old favourites, including Five-O, Ring the Bells, Sit Down (thankfully nobody did) and Lullaby.
They took their time coming back for an encore, but it was worth the wait for She’s a Star, and, saving the best till last, the fantastic Laid and Sometimes (Lester Piggott).
If you missed it, tough – the tour’s sold out, you’ll have to wait for the album and hope they get on the road again soon.
In front of a multinational audience of fans from locations as far away as the US, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany and the UK, James opened their tour proper following the two warm-up shows in London over the last month in the rather superb setting of Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, a truly spectacular venue that has the grandness of Shepherds Bush Empire with the intimacy of a much smaller theatre and a smoke-free environment due to Irish law.
As with the warm-ups the set opened with Seven with its extended opening, the band immediately appeared more at ease in these surroundings than the cramped confines of those gigs. Tim welcomed the band with a “thank you motherfuckers” before launching into an impassioned version of Destiny Calling. I’m sure at some point the “come back when we’re getting old” lyric will be used against the band (probably by the hopefully soon-to-be-bankrupt NME), not that anyone in the crowd cares about what that desperate rag thinks about James. In particular The Twang, who could be risking their coolest new band in Britain status by constantly referencing James through their opening set and who spent James set stood up in their box singing and dancing along like everyone else. I wonder if that will ever get reported.
Who Are You is simply stunning. Most people now know this song due to the power of the internet and it fits into the set like an old friend. Larry, resplendent in his soon-to-be-trademark cap. Next is the real highlight of the evening, Five-O. For those who didn’t witness this incarnation of James and have had to listen to the stories of the more “mature” members of the audience, this will be a real insight into what was, and the band themselves are now admitting to it, the real creative and live peak of the band. Larry’s ending had many of the audience in tears. With the bigger venue came a much clearer and powerful sound system and it tells.
Tim removed his beanie hat at this point as the band crashed into Play Dead, shorn of its opening “music depresses me”, but not lacking in much else through to the Tim-Larry-Saul harmonies at the end. Getting Away With It continues to make its case for inclusion in the most popular live songs, building, brooding and loved by everyone. Tim, still clearly not confident about the shoulder issues he’d been suffering with, has developed a snake-like movement that is graceful yet doesn’t (fingers crossed) risk further injury.
Say Something with its slower understated new beginning confuses the crowd initially, until the chorus kicks in. Heavens confirms its status as a single that should have been. The crowd had warmed up more now and this appeared to fuel the band even more.
Chain Mail made a lot more sense tonight than it did at Nambucca, partly down to the better sound in the venue and knowing what was coming next. Riders saw Mark leave the stage, but, unlike Nambucca, Saul added violin to the mix. The lighting, restricted to the house rig because of the travel involved, suddenly sprung into life.
Now, as it is a James gig, something has to go wrong. Attempting to open Chameleon, something goes wrong with Jim’s bass and they have to ditch the song from the set. After negotiations on stage, the band launch into Honest Joe, the first new addition to the London setlists. Whilst still stunning, it does still need some work to reach the heights of the way it was played back in 1994 and 1997 that made it one of the top songs in fans’ wish-lists for the tour.
Upside, now titled Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release], makes its second ever appearance and Tim has written new lyrics for the night, joking that it would have different lyrics every night and that tonight’s performance will be unique. This, of the three new songs, shows the massive potential of the new songs to take James somewhere different, somewhere James used to go, the place Jim, Tim and Larry have enthused about in recent interviews. Just as it appears the song is reaching a crescendo, it kicks back in and the musicians take over.
That’s the end of the “weird stuff”, as Saul refers to it. The opening bars of Come Home send the crowd wild and the song is as loose yet powerful as it’s ever been. Ring The Bells maintains the pace before Mark opens up a Sit Down that has everyone in the venue, despite fussy security upstairs, into raptures. A failed attempt by the first few rows to get the rest of us to sit down doesn’t work, but just adds to the feeling of euphoria, particularly as Tim comes out to greet the fans. And then they’re gone. Clearly touched, clearly feeling that all their fears about reconnecting with their audience is totally unfounded. Back to claim the best live band in Britain tag from whoever’s wearing that monicker this week.
The encore opens with Gold Mother, in true James fashion different from the last show, Larry very naughtily flaunting the no smoking rule, bad boy. Laid and Sometimes, fittingly for the Laid Six, close the first section of the encore before the band decide not to leave the stage for the second encore. The slowed down, stripped back She’s A Star sends the crowd into raptures, hollering the chorus and probably unwisely trying to imitate Tim’s high-pitched singing. There will be a lot of sore throats in the hotels of Dublin this morning.
So, first night down, the band stood and milked the applause from the audience, visibly moved. The adrenaline rush must be indescribable with 1200 people hanging on every lyric, every chord change and wondering exactly what the band are going to do next. OK, there are less obscure songs than the warm-ups but that’s understandable and forgiven. It’s a shame Chameleon had to be ditched as with it the balance would have been perfect. Prepare to be treated.
One of two new tracks recorded to promote The Best Of album, Destiny Calling was released as the first. It reached 17 in the UK Singles Chart.
CD JIMDD 19 – Destiny Calling / Jam J (live at Reading 97) / Honest Joe (live at Reading 97) / Sound (live at Reading 97)
CD JIMCD 19- Destiny Calling / Goalies Ball / Assassin / The Lake
CD JIMED 19 – Destiny Calling / She’s A Star / enhanced multimedia section
| Release Name: | Destiny Calling |
| Artist Name: | |
| Release Date: | 9th March 1998 |
| Format: | Studio Single |
| Catalogue: | CD JIMDD 19; CD JIMCD 19; CD JIMED 19 |
In order to promote the forthcoming Best Of album, James recorded two new tracks for release as singles. Destiny Calling was viewed as the more chart-friendly of the two by the record company so was chosen as the first single. Another Radio 1 A-listing and a TFI Friday performance ensued as part of the session and interview blitz that was beginning for the Best Of.
The single appeared on 3CD singles. The first featured three live tracks recorded by the BBC at the band’s Reading Festival performance in August 1997, Jam J and Honest Joe brought stunningly to life compared to their studio version. The second CD promised James rarities although the three songs chosen – Goalies Ball, Assassin and The Lake – were all still readily available cheaply on the second hand market. Rather than unpopular remixes, the third CD had a multimedia section featuring the full video of She’s A Star, snippets of some of the other single videos, a biography and band photographs. Artwork for the single resurrected the band’s famous daisy logo and was designed by Peacock.
The video, as the lyrics of the single, mocked the commercialism of the music business. James images were placed on plates and perfumes amongst other things in a Shopping Channel mock-up. Graham, the voiceover man from ITV’s Blind Date, guest-starred in the video.
A poster campaign asking “Is This Your Destiny Calling?” preceded the single’s release. To push the single’s sales in view of the impending Best Of, all CD formats were priced at £1.99. The first week chart placing of 17 and the subsequent success of the Best Of suggested that some people had waited for the album or were put off by the lack of new material. A Top of the Pops appearance followed, but this failed to give the single any second week push.
