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Nine days ago I was fortunate enough to be one of little under five hundred people at an intimate gig in Glasgow, this being a warm-up for the T In The Park and Oxygen festivals. Tonight I find myself in far less intimate surroundings in a concrete park in the capital of Catalonia, for the same reason, the allure of the band we call James. At this point, I should admit that I’ve never been a big fan of James at outdoor gigs. The sound always seems to get lost somehow and Tim’s voice often lets him down on these occasions (Alton Towers and Heaton Park immediately spring to mind). The only thing worse then seeing James outdoors, is seeing James outdoors when it is still light. Before the darkness makes the sound seem louder and the sky acts as a roof. Guess what, tonight they are third on the bill and the sun is still shining in the clear blue sky.
There is much in favour of the setting tonight though. Look left and one can see the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea. Turn around and take in the splendour of the mountains of Serra de Collserola. Glance right and watch the sun setting a glorious orange over the city itself. Tonight could just be the night when I finally discover a love for James in the great outdoors, rather than wishing that every gig was in a sweaty club in England.
And so to the songs. James have now settled on a backbone of hits, around which new songs and old favourites are slotted in as the mood dictates. Born Of Frustration was re-introduced when Andy Diagram was welcomed back to the fold. There is no Andy tonight but the song remains. It suffers his absence a little, of course it does but it is still a throbbing monster of a hit. Tim dances like a rag doll and you could argue that the song was written for nights such as this one. Tomorrow sees Tim singing the first part of the song directly to Saul and even grabbing the front of Saul’s shirt for the “Now your grip’s too strong” line. Saul retaliates by playing even harder and the song truly soars tonight. Sit Down is more instantly recognizable than of late with the drums opening the song and the keyboard intro much lower in the mix. The paying public don’t seem to notice/mind/care as they sing every word back at Tim.
We almost hear Not Too Strong at this point. Tim announces that they’re playing a new song and the introduction is played perfectly, so it is a surprise when he calls the song to an abrupt halt. Apparently, his lyric sheet has not been brought to the stage and Larry looks genuinely annoyed. I don’t wish to grumble on such a beautiful night but two things spring to mind. Firstly, how far would it have been for somebody to retrieve the lyric sheet for a slot later in the set? Secondly, is it not time that Tim began to learn these lyrics, as other frontmen do? The rest of the band have learnt their parts.
I forgive him completely just seconds later when the band launch into the beautiful Out To Get You. Saul’s violin becomes the focal point and Larry moves across the stage to him, to form a triangle including Jim. Tim dances wildly on the edge of this triangle, as if trying to break into it. And then, at last, the kind of surprise that has been missing from recent shows, when without introduction they launch into English Beefcake, my favourite song of the post-Laid era. It is technically far better then it was in Newcastle on the April tour, although it is still the one song where the backing vocals of Michael Kulas are truly missed. Tim explains at the end that they had been told of the love for this song in Barcelona. Say Something sees Tim on the barrier being held by the crowd while the band look on, anxiously but proudly.
The biggest reception of the night is reserved for Getting Away With It, which has become a set regular. The locals clearly loved the Pleased To Meet You album and yell every word. Ring The Bells is as majestic as ever and only suffers slightly at the very end from the absence of Andy. And then it’s time for “another new one” and without a lyric sheet(!) we get Upside. This song could be massive, if handled correctly. It is the song in my head as I walk down the street and the first song I wish to listen to at night. It fits with the hits like a hand in a glove and the band know it.
There is little to say about the closing four songs. This has become the regular ending to the set and I have to remind myself, at my thirteenth James show of this year alone, that tonight may be the first show ever for some people. Laid and Sometimes are greeted like old friends as the dancing becomes a little wilder. Gold Mother confuses many and is devoid of dancers tonight, making concentration on the song itself easier, for one such as I. The reworked intro to She’s A Star also causes some confusion, but the singalong soon begins. And then they are gone, eventually, after Dave has taken pictures on his phone and Tim has told us to “check out The Twang”. The crowd are baying for more but James are not a headline band and their allotted time has come to an end. But wait, here is Larry and Saul and now the rest of the band. “They’re letting us play one more because of your reaction” Tim announces. This lifts the volume even higher and Come Home is greeted like a party favourite.
This time they do leave. The sun had set during Say Something and the sky still glows a beautiful orange. Trendier bands will have the honour of the later slots, when darkness has fallen and the sound seems louder. However, there is truly only one champion in Barcelona tonight. Tim’s voice has been magnificent and the sound has drifted no further than it should. Maybe these outdoor things are not so bad after all.
Later on, I pause at the merchandise stall where James t-shirts are outselling all others by a significant margin. And ever it was so.
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This wasn’t maybe a good idea. I’d seen the pictures of the mud, the water and the rain. I’d been to T before and realised that it was likely to be full of pissed up people by mid afternoon. But this was James’ first go at proving to the wider populus that they are still a force to be reckoned with, that time hasn’t taken away what made them the best live band in Britain and win over a festival crowd that had just gone mental to the rather different talents of the Lostprophets.
Born Of Frustration is beset with problems. Tim’s ear mics don’t work properly throughout and he makes constant visits to the side of the stage to try and get it fixed. Andy’s equipment seems to only work sporadically and there’s a few instances of feedback on stage. But hey, would it be James without technical difficulties. Born Of Frustration sounds perfect for the wide open expanses of the festival. The front area is already a mudpit so it’s amazing people can stand let alone dance, but they do. Tomorrow gets the crowd moving faster, losing very little in the wider expanses of the fields.
Sit Down is sort of half started while Tim goes off to get his box fixed, but once Larry leads in with 1-2-3-4, the crowd go wild. There’s no point in trying to avoid the mud at this point, although the sight of people diving headfirst into it is a little disturbing. Still, it’s a good sign that James are getting this type of response after so long away.
She’s A Star sounds so much better than the previous night in Glasgow with Larry’s slide guitar restored to the mix, but Out To Get You sees Kinross become a mass of swaying arms and calms the crowd down a little.
It’s a short respite as Getting Away With It receives as warm a response as anything else in the set. New song Upside follows, which Tim comments as being the only new song you’d be likely to hear on the main stage. Whether this is true or not, you’d be pushed to hear a better one. It’s got to be a contender for a single and a song to prove to this type of audience that James still have whatever it takes, despite what the NME says.
Laid is another crowd favourite. Mud is now being thrown around by some and those trying to dance around are being either very brave or very stupid. Ring The Bells converts effortlessly from last night’s small venue to the wider stages, allowing Andy to roam around menacingly, swop places with Saul and Larry to use the stage to maximum effect. The sound has been pretty much fixed by now, much to the relief of many of us.
Sometimes sees Tim contemplate coming down into the crowd. Probably quite wisely he decides against it, but then starts to invite people on stage for the closing track Gold Mother. The sight of the stage full of fans and friends of the band should go down as one of the moments of the festival, but will probably get ignored by the music press for the more fashionable bands on the bill.
So, James came and they won. As we departed the main stage area, there was a very definite buzz and a positive response to the set, which has hopefully reminded many how good James are and converted many a new fan.
James were grown from the womb for days like these.
Terminally rubbish they may be, but you can’t deny the fact that songs like ‘Laid’ and ‘Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)’ make for prime festival merriment.
Guilty though the pleasure may be, it’s there all the same, and you can’t help but be dragged along in its summery wake.
Do we want them to release another album? Hell, no. Do we want them to play the next rain-sodden field we visit? Absolutely.
James frontman Tim Booth seemed to be bothered with sound problems but that didn’t stop him putting on a great show.
His trademark howl started off the huge hit Born of Frustration and it only took 2 bars of Sit Down to get the crowd jumping and singing to what became a huge T In The Park anthem.
After singing She’s A Star with his soaring vocals, he sang a new song Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) while reading from notes.
He did the huge crowd pleaser Ring The Bell which raised fever pitch and said “This song was inspired by the romantic notion of the desire to be struck by lightning.”
So another secret warm-up gig it is. Oran Mor is in the crypt of a converted church in one of the more salubrious suburbs of Glasgow. It’s an interesting venue. Due to its structure it has a very low roof which doesn’t help the sound and pillars in some odd places that obscure the view from many parts of the room.
Anyway, James come around 8.45 and launch into the opening bars of Born Of Frustration. It’s clear from the start that the crowd are up for it, as they always are in Glasgow, although here a bit more controlled than at the Academy earlier in the year. What’s clear from the start is that Tim is in fine form vocally, the best he’s been to date and that there are going to be sound problems. At various points in the evening Larry is almost inaudible and from the end of Frustration right through to Gold Mother, you can’t hear Andy’s trumpet at all. That said, James are no strangers to issues with sound and tonight, as they usually always do, they conquer it and more.
Tomorrow is fast, frenetic and rather wonderful. Sit Down is next and met with either rapturous cheers or groans from those who think a warm-up gig is no place for it. For me, it’s been reinvigorated this tour by the way it’s been played – with the keyboard intro but then dead straight down the middle.
She’s A Star is disappointing as Larry’s guitar appears to be completely absent from the first half of the song. Those that have heard it on the tour to date know this is one of the best moments of the set. He’s a little obscured by a pillar so I can’t see whether it’s a new arrangement or whether there’s a sound problem. But it takes the edge off the song.
Out To Get You is a known crowd favourite in these parts. It brought the house down at the Academy and it gets a similar reception tonight. Similarly Johnny Yen is superb, drawn out, improvised middle section, ever changing. It’s a song over 20 years old and still evokes more passion and excitement than any of the bands that are going to grace the stage with them tomorrow.
Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release] continues to grow. Andy’s presence, when you can hear it, adds some beautiful shadow and shade to the song. The lyrics are again pretty much unchanged and it’s maybe a mystery now why Tim needs the lyric sheets for this one.
As this set is primarily a warm up for tomorrow and helping them with timing and the pacing of the set due to a typical Jamesian lack of rehearsals, it’s a bit more hit heavy than many would have liked, myself included. But it works fantastically well as a show, as would be evidenced tomorrow. Sometimes is as agitated, pulsating and exhilirating as ever, building and building to its climax of layered vocals. The band are clearly enjoying this and the crowd are lapping it up.
Gold Mother and Sound are exercises in the band demonstrating their craft, and so much of what was lost in James when Larry left. Some of us older types made constant references in the post Best Of era to the sheer dynamics of the Larry era live show and what had been lost (with no disrespect intended to Mike and Adrian). James were so unpredictable, all over the place yet so vibrant so spontaneous live in that period that we were seen as mad, but I think the evidence of the past four months have convinced everyone that the James line up we’re seeing now is pushing the envelope in a way that most bands wouldn’t even dare think about, yet alone pulling off. There’s a part in Gold Mother where it seems as if the song is about to come to a messy halt and it just soars out of nowhere.
Laid is a bit throwaway if we’re being honest, but the crowd love it to bits. Tim announces that Ring The Bells will be the last song of the set “tomorrow night”. I think I’ve said enough for you to get my opinion on this one, it feels like the song is never going to end and you never want it to as Tim dances himself into a frenzy, Andy hollers into his mic in between his trumpet burst and the guitars build and build and build. Stunning stuff.
The encore starts with the second ever performances of Traffic and Not So Strong, Tim apologising in advance if they mess them up. Traffic is meandering and beautiful with a very simple chorus that sounds like “dream a lie”, before speeding into a shotgun-style barrage of lyrics from Tim and then an extended improvised outro.
Not So Strong is the real highlight though, starting with a series of boxing analogies over a brooding and menacing backing, before opening out into a vast wide musical melange of guitar, keyboard and trumpet that works perfectly and lyrics that are pretty much fine as they are despite being work in progress. Tim says at the end “that was fucking good, wasn’t it?” Too right. Waiting for 2008 for this album is going to be a long long wait.
Getting Away With It starts and then stops, as the sound problems mean Dave can’t be heard. The song has become somewhat of an anthem for the band and it’s a real shame Mercury never took the time to promote it properly as it could have relaunched James in 2001. Tonight, it’s everything it’s always been. Tim’s dancing is frenetic and Larry and Andy add those little flourishes that make it special.
And then that’s it. A great night. James yet again overcoming technical gremlins and likely under-rehearsal to deliver a sharp and breathtaking set to a small crowd. A little hit heavy maybe, but this was more a genuine warm-up than the secret gigs of Hoxton and Nambucca, and when the band are this good, it’s a bit churlish to complain.
Pouring rain, overpriced rum and fat bastards elbowing me through the first four songs could not overshadow the greatness of the gig
Warm-up gig for the festival season and Andy’s first back with the band since 1992.
So back to Hoxton, scene of the first comeback show only three seemingly long months ago. After making us wait an age to come on, they finally made their way through the crowd and launched into Say Something, and then promptly stopped. An inauspicious start and the version was a little ramshackle to start with but half way through kicked in. Before the next song, Tim asked if anyone could play brass and an extravagantly haired Andy Diagram climbed up on stage to start off Seven. Wandering around the rather cramped stage, it was both weird but welcoming to see Andy back. For me, James peak live was this line up around 1992 and whilst under-rehearsed and unfamiliar tonight, you could see the massive possibilities for the live sound were Andy’s comeback to be more permanent than the summer festivals.
Play Dead was wonderfully chaotic, all over the place, but yet held together, verging on freeform at points. The first new song Traffic was debuted, the sound was still patchy at this stage, but the seeds of a gorgeous yearning track are there, particularly the extended instrumental end section. Chameleon rocked like hell before Larry started the elongated building start to Born of Frustration, making a very welcome and a very stunning return to the set. Andy started to prowl the stage and the song descended into a beautiful mess. Chain Mail has taken on a new menacing edge in the way Tim forcefully pronounces the words. Out To Get You gets one of the warmest receptions of the evening, yet feels a little cramped in the more intimate surrounds of the venue than it did in the bigger halls of April.
The second brand new track, Not So Strong, starts with a pulsating intro with Tim half-speaking half-singing and then opens out into a gloriously loose and instantly endearing track. All is looking well. Upside is simply gorgeous. Andy’s dashes of trumpet just add the cherry on the very tasty cake.
The set then races to a close with a stunning medley of hits. Sometimes is as driven, as passionate and as exciting as ever. Getting Away With It builds and builds to a crescendo. Ring The Bells just keeps going and going and you never want it to end as the music gets more frenetic, more desperate. Sound makes a reappearance and doesn’t disappoint, its loose structures allowing the band to take the song wherever they choose in a way only James seem to be able.
They discard the encore ritual and launch into possibly the most beautiful rendition of any James song I think I’ve ever heard. Larry’s guitar on She’s A Star makes the hairs on my neck stand up and tears well up. Embellished with a wandering trumpet the song is an absolute showstopper. Gold Mother follows Sound down the path of unrehearsed, verging on the dividing line between genius and shambolic (and falling as ever on the right side of the line). After all this fun, Laid seems a bit of a throwaway ending, but the crowd love it and everyone goes home happy, if a little late.
James 2007 have pretty much lived up to their publicity. There might be some financial reasons for the reformation, but this is a band hellbent on playing what they want to play, and playing it their way. They are the awkward bastards that took the scenic route when the highway was set out in front of them. This reunion could have been so staid, a get the hits out for the lads style that so many of their contemporaries have gone for. But it’s not. It’s true to the spirit and legacy of James greatest moments and keeps adding to it. Roll on the album.
“It was fucking amazing”
A semi-acoustic gig for XFM competition winners in Cloud 23 in Manchester’s Hilton Hotel.
So, back in the room where it all started, where Tim and Jim first met over a nicked pint of beer, James return to their roots with a gig for competition winners from Amazon and XFM, plus the more eagle-eyed members of the official and oneofthethree messageboards. Following a farcical attempt by the venue at handling entry to the gig with a series of conflicting directions, odd ticket arrangements and then what was effectively a scrum from one of the bars to get down a narrow staircase, everyone managed to get in, although the stage time of 9.40 was significantly later than most had expected. To be honest, I think Jim, Gavan and Paul climbed through windows because it was the safest and quickest way in.
From the start, it was clear that this was going to be no normal James set. Well not normal in the context of what you’d expect from this type of gig. Intended as a counter to the explosion of adoration, celebration and the sheer enormity of the reaction to the MEN gig on Saturday, this was the other side of James. The main set did not contain a single one of the band’s Top 40 singles.
Opening with Seven wasn’t really an indicator of things to come. But following it, Tim asked the crowd who had been at the Arena on Saturday. Predictably most of the crowd had, and he warned them this wouldn’t be a repeat, it would be very different. And it was. And to be fair, the crowd in general were more than knowledgeable and attentive enough to deal with the set. I think, in fact, hearing some of the views afterwards, they’d have been disappointed to have got anything else.
Before launching into Heavens, Tim told the story of how him and Jim first met when Jim, Gavan and Paul were watching Tim dance whilst nicking his beer and the subsequent confrontation which led to an invite for Tim to join their band as a dancer. Heavens is wonderful. It should really have been a single in my opinion.
Chain Mail is met with cheers of applause. And rightly so. Again, in the more confined surroundings, it doesn’t get lost in the ether. It’s tight and loose at the same time, there’s a passion for the song driven through the performance. Tim watches Larry’s guitar work at one point, seemingly as much in awe as the rest of us. The crowd love it, Tim explains the background as being inspired the works of a writer whose name escapes me now, but who also inspired Patti Smith’s Birdland and Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. Riders gets pretty much the same reception, cheers of recognition, the song builds and builds until it stops dead and starts again and builds back to a climax. Shorn of the big rigs of the arena, the lights are simple, but add more to the songs this way in this venue. The sound quality is excellent too given fears expressed by some regular attendees at gigs here.
Don’t Wait That Long is beautiful, the highlight being Larry’s guitar solo which just kicks in and takes the song off in another direction. Really Hard follows suit, Tim’s words in the singles collection about these babies having deeper qualities than the singles ringing true. Larry again steals the show, but you feel that if you took one component out of this sextet, the whole thing would lose so much. There’s a tighter closer-knit feel to James than I’ve seen for a very very long time and this set is dynamic proof of that. Whilst for one moment, I can’t imagine things are as wonderfully harmonious as they have been painted, it’s clear that relationship issues have been ironed out and shouldn’t plague the band in the way they did since Larry left in 1996.
Top Of The World makes its first appearance of the tour and is as poignant and beautiful as it’s ever been. Saul’s violin is haunting as it soars and cuts its way through the spindly bass and guitar. Hair on the back of the neck on end time.
Tim introduces Stripmining as about the 1985 Mexican earthquake disaster. It’s sung with a passion as if it was about Tim’s own loved ones. The great beauty of playing these fragile songs in such intimate surroundings is that they don’t get lost in the way they would in the big, bad arenas. You can’t deny the power, the passion and the sheer fucking hell impact of Saturday night and what James can achieve in that environment. Yet here, they prove they have no peers at this either. You have to hope the new future incarnation of James is going to manage the balance between the two, big celebration gigs and small intimate low-key gigs like this, because with the right approach, you can do both.
If Things Were Perfect is the deepest delve back into the midst of time. Seeming oddly described by Tim as “Moby’s favourite song”, it sounds miles away from the quiet, fragile piece that graced the James II EP, but the delivery of the vocals is almost like a mantra, forcing the listener’s attention not to wander. According to Tim, Jim’s eldest son says “they don’t write songs like Things Were Perfect anymore”. True I guess.
Jumping forward nearly two decades, Fine comes next. It had been a shambles whenever the 2001 line-up tried to play it live, but sounds great now. Five-O has always been a live favourite of mine and doesn’t disappoint here again. Once more, there’s a point where Tim faces Larry, watches then starts dancing and gets lost in his own movement.
The set closes with two new songs. Chameleon grows again, tighter, fitter and faster than on the record. It’s nice to see quite a bit of the audience joining in with this one, that the new material is connecting as much as the old. The set closes with Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release]. The reaction to it is mental. Whether it’s the “right” type of song to be a future single is debatable, but it promises to continue the family line of great James tracks that the band are promising us. On the evidence of Upside, the future would seem very certain.
Coming back for the encore, the band placate the few dissenters in the crowd with a singalong rendition of Getting Away With It. It’s amazing how this song has burrowed its way into the consciousness of James fans. For me, as with Sit Down, it captured the essence of James at a specific point of time. All Messed Up was a pretty fair description of where the band was at that time, but yet so much positivity came out of it.
Out To Get You then pretty much steals the show. This song connects the band with its audience more than any other except Sit Down. The band leave for a second time before coming back and running through a fast and furious Laid.
So, on the way out, the response was generally extremely positive. One James diehard said “best set ever” and the consensus appeared to be strong. I’d had a couple stood near me leave half way through though in disgust at the lack of hits. This is the James dilemma. You get the feeling they’d be happy to play these types of sets to this size of audience forever as long as they could continue to play live and write new material. Yet, as already stated, there is something undeniable about what happened on Saturday night at the Arena. You couldn’t have got away with last night in there though. It’s a fine line, a very thin tightrope, yet you can get across to the other side. It’s going to be a very interesting ride in the next 12 months. At the end of day, enjoy them while they’re here.
Back in 1982 in the basement of the Manchester University Student Union building, a young drama student was dancing wildly trying to forget a girl who had recently left him. Unbeknown to the wiry student, on the very same night, three local rough types had employed their usual tactic of getting into the student disco without paying. With no cash in their pockets but with spirit in their hearts, they did what any self-respecting young men would do in the same situation; they stole the drinks of the dancing masses. Fate dictated that the pint in the hand of one of the three, belonged to the aforementioned student, who briefly challenged them on his return to where he had left his drink. After inevitably quickly backing down, he was intrigued to learn that they had been watching him dance and I dare say even more amazed when they asked him to go along to a rehearsal of their fledgling band. A telephone number was scrawled on his hand, sparse arrangements were made and thus a legend was born.
Jim Glennie was on of those Moss Side miscreants that night and Tim Booth the dancing student. Call it luck, call it chance, in fact call it whatever you like, this meeting was just as life changing as a certain John Maher (later to become Johnny Marr) knocking on the door of 384 Kings Road, Stretford, Manchester, the home of some bloke called Steven Morrissey.
Roll the clocks forward twenty-five years and Jim Glennie and Tim Booth are back in the same basement room. A quarter of a century has taken the two of them around the world, has seen them as close as brothers and as far apart as the bitterest of rivals and yet, here they are, back where it all began. There have been many other defining moments in the history of the band we now know as James, like the day Jim and his old mucker, Paul employed Larry Gott as a guitar teacher and the day they came across Saul playing a one-note solo in a Manchester cafe bar. However, the basement meeting has to be the most important, being the start of something so beautiful that it aches.
So, what brings these two middle-aged men back to that same dingy University basement in the spring of 2007? The answer is, of course, that the date marks the release of a career defining singles collection. A bunch of songs that have meant so much, to so many people over so many years, have been placed together and titled Fresh As A Daisy. So, what do James do on this seminal night? Anybody who has followed the history of the band will know the answer already. They play just six of the songs from the new collection, two of these being more than twenty years old and one having been written for inclusion on Fresh As A Daisy. It could be said that they have no need to play the hits tonight, given that they have managed to air nineteen of their singles on the sold-out tour, which ended triumphantly in Manchester on Saturday. They are also playing in front of a room full of James devotees, all desperate to be challenged and eager to concentrate. However, it is still a brave move but boy does it work.
Seven opens the show, just as it did on their return to us in March following their (almost) six-year hiatus. The song positively soars and the singalong begins. Heavens follows and still shows today what it showed fifteen years ago, that it could have been a massive single. We are then treated to a run of songs that I never believed I would see on the same setlist.
Really Hard is simply beauty itself and the aching refrain ‘I am dying to begin again’ never fails to bring a lump to my throat. Chain Mail has become a live favourite again and seems to have even more energy tonight, if that is in any way possible. Tim introduces Riders in the usual manner and the words “This song is about a dream” are enough for the knowledgable audience to know the treat which is to follow. As old song follows old song, it becomes increasingly clear that this night is going to be the most special night of my life to date. We get a gorgeous Top of The World, for the first time on the tour and the reintroduction of Stripmining after its airing at the first warm-up gig. We can barely believe it when we get a frenetic performance of If Things Were Perfect and the live favourite that is Five-O.
We are treated once more to the delights of Chameleon which is growing in stature with every outing and the band seem to really love playing this song. And then there is Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release]. At this point I stop writing, just for a moment and close my eyes. Has a new song ever been such an instant classic after just a handful of live appearances? Maybe Ring The Bells back in 1990? Possibly. This song should be heard by every living human who has a heart and when Tim sings “Hear my echo”, I feel like the world is going to come off its axis.
Inevitably, we get a couple of hits in the encore. Getting Away With It, which I described as sexy on a website forum earlier in the day, reinforces its position as a hip-swaying beast of a song. Don’t Wait That Long is welcome at any party and whilst not yet at its 1991 peak as a live song, it still sits comfortably in the set. And then James close with a monster, the pogo-inducing, headswim that is Laid. Yes, it has been played at every gig, bar Nambucca but oh, what a song. You could dress it up in women’s clothes and line its eyes and call it pretty and it would still know it was a hit of epic proportions. And then they are gone. Away to the whirl of promotion for the record. Hopefully, away to a studio to consign Upside Downside et al to DAT for our later listening pleasure. In love, in fear, in hate, in tears, I hope they are not strangers for long.
So, how was it for Tim and Jim to be back in that basement twenty-five years on? If it was half as good as it was for those lucky enough to be there, I imagine that mine may not be the only night where sleep just seems too tedious for words.
After playing to a 20 odd thousand capacity home crowd at the MEN Arena on Saturday night, it was a far more intimate gathering for an exclusive James’ gig – hosted by Radio Station Xfm on Monday.
Built into the labyrinthine bowels of Manchester University’s Academy Building, Academy 4, or ‘Club Academy’ holds a crowd of approximately 300 people. With a low ceiling, an audience floor space containing several large pillars and a backstage area the size of a telephone box, it’s typically the venue for local unsigned acts playing to friends or those international groups awaiting UK Music Industry recognition that seldom ever eventuates. Rarely does it play host to a band with a following so devoted that even the group’s lead singer describes them as Trainspotters.
James may have taken a long hiatus, but this successful comeback tour seems to prove that the break has done nothing but build the band to cult status. The way people stood throughout the performance – heads bowed and arms raised; men dancing alongside their mates and everybody singing along – the atmosphere at this small concert was more like witnessing a Gospel service in America’s South.
The band sounded great. Fact. But for me (who isn’t a James obsessive) it was to be a night of slight disappointment. Vocalist Tim Booth promised not to repeat the performance from Saturday night, which is fair enough, but with the words “Tonight isn’t a party, it’s an inner celebration – these are songs that never got the airing we think they deserved” I must admit, my heart sank.
What followed was a set of songs that were, dare I say it.. a tad indulgent. Though the crowd lapped it up, songs such as ‘Strip Mining’ – written in response to a 1985 Mexican Earthquake – seemed almost cringeworthy in its outdated earnestness.
Booth has a gorgeous voice and he sings in a very distinctive, emotive style. He’s a great frontman, sharing stories with the crowd and jigging around the stage like Michael Stipe during the wailing guitar solos, but singing tunes that rhyme ‘Angel’s wings’ with ‘Magic Things’ however, (Seven – which failed to reach the top 40 in 1992) is far from showcasing the band’s best material.
Thankfully, the inclusion of new tracks towards the end of the set proved that the band still have the ability to produce great, contemporary singles. ‘Chameleon’ showed the band’s musicality has not stagnated and ‘Upside Downside’ [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release] is a pop song that displays both great depth and a catchy chorus.
Finally for the encore, one of the band’s more successful singles reared its head. ‘Getting Away with It (All Messed Up)’ was by far the best tune on the night and the rest of the audience seemed to agree. This song was a single because it was great, not great because it was a single. “Daniel drinks his weight, Drinks like Richard Burton, Dances like John Travolta”… Brilliant. Please Sir, can I have some More?
So, 16,000 people, hometown show, a massive weight of expectation on the homecoming heroes, it was always going to be quite a night. And it was. It answered once for all the question as to whether there is a place for James in the hearts and minds and music collections of the masses. All the questions about how new material were answered by the response to Who Are You, Chameleon and Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release]. Quite the implications for James future are probably best left for another day.
The show opens with a procession of flag waving girls, drummers and a band coming through the crowd stage-right and then up onto the stage as the music to Come Home started and the band appeared as the curtain dropped that was shielding them from the crowd. Personally, I’m not sure why they felt the need to do this. It seemed a little gimmicky, a little unnecessary. James 2007, lest we forget, is all about the music. A band back to remind everyone exactly how bloody good they were and how good they can still be. The front of the crowd becomes one heaving sweaty mass. It’s seventeen years since Come Home opened the G-Mex show that announced for real James’ arrival as a band capable of filling and conquering these arenas, it’s kind of fitting that seventeen years later, it can still have the same effect.
Waltzing Along and Ring The Bells maintain the momentum. Despite the distance and height from crowd to band, there is still the intimacy in the connection that could get easily lost without the close contact. All the nuances and flourishes that the band add to their music are still there, Tim is a frontman like no other, yet the crowd lap it up. It’s a very special band that can sound so fresh in such a cavern, it’d be very easy to give into the sense of occasion, play everything very straight and go from hit to hit to hit. Hymn From A Village follows, it’s spindly, jagged, folky qualities all there, yet it fills the room with such ease, such dogged grace that everyone surrenders.
Destiny Calling does verge on the edge of throwaway. With so many people there, it’s a very easy singalong, chant back number, but it’s rescued by a quintessential James improvised ending which keeps the crowd dancing whilst Tim whirls and twists stage centre.
The two new songs get a very good reception. Who Are You is the most recognised of the two, and it’s good to note it wasn’t used by many as an excuse to go and get a drink, go to the toilet or talk to their mates. Chameleon rocks like hell. Despite Saul claiming they’d probably screw it up, they don’t, and it has a structure, a power it has been developing towards over the tour but hadn’t quite reached.
Play Dead, sadly didn’t seem to transfer itself across as well to the wider surroundings of the arena. It has been a real highlight throughout the tour and it saddens me to say it. The performance is still great, the crescendo of vocals at the end still brings the hairs on the back of the neck to stand up.
Chain Mail is magical though. Ideally paced now, Tim prowls the stage, emphasising the words, it builds and builds to the final chorus and explodes. It does however get usurped by Out To Get You. It’s a little unfair to any song to have to precede or follow this since it was introduced to the set. Tim calls it “stadium rock” at the end, it’s not. It’s not even near. It’s about connection, it’s about lyrics that anyone can relate to and accompanied by what would appear to be a minimalist musical backing, which just adds so much to the power of Tim’s words. You don’t need big choruses, big guitar solos, grand gestures to have a crowd this size eating out of the palm of your hand. Well, James don’t. I can’t speak for other bands.
Riders is similar. Nearly twenty years since being one of the songs that live lead the NME, in the days before the cult of (lack of) personality and the need to cover boybands to keep the wolf from the door, to declare James the best live band in the country. It typifies just what is so special about James and why live is where you get them at their very, very best.
It’s lyric sheet time again for Upside Downside. It does appear to have become more settled and fixed lyrically now, and it benefits from it. Tim jokes it’s the first time anyone has ever sung a song from a lyric sheet in the arena, which could well be true. The song itself doesn’t get lost in the size of the arena. The next time James grace this venue, if that’s the course they take, they’ll have six, seven or eight new songs. The crowd reaction to it suggests that they could well pull it off.
The set draws to a close with a medley of the more familiar. Getting Away With It starts once Saul has got his equipment sorted, after Larry has taken the piss. The crowd greet it like an old friend, the centre of the moshpit heaves again, getting heavier as it’s followed by Sometimes and Johnny Yen. During Sometimes, Tim makes his customary foray down into the crowd and sings most of the song stood on the barrier. Johnny Yen catches fire for the first time on this tour, the improvised section ends with Tim on the floor as the music builds to a crescendo accompanied by frenetic lighting. The crowd go absolutely wild.
Tomorrow keeps the pace white hot before the opening bars of Sit Down are greeted with the biggest roar of the evening. As before, the performance is relatively straight, the crowd sing back every word, the band add a small improvised ending and then they’re gone. 16,000 people are on their feet in appreciation.
Say Something sees Tim start the encore by climbing off stage and going into the first tier seats to sing, struggling to get back at the end of the song as he was mobbed by adoring fans. Gold Mother sees the arena bathed in orange lights, fans invited on stage to dance and the band improvising their way through the chaos around them. It’s absolutely stunning stuff, people stand astonished at what they’re seeing in front of them. Laid has the whole standing section as a heaving mass and the whole seating section are on their feet.
They come back for a second encore. The new stripped down version of She’s A Star works fantastically well in the wider surrounds of the arena. An on-stage discussion sees the set finish with an impromptu How Was It For You, that gets its first play since Nambucca. It’s fast, frenetic and sends the crowd wild and then they’re gone. Tim leaves telling the crowd “this is a comeback, the way forward”.
So, a great finish to the tour. James manage to maintain the variety and vitality of the set in such cavernous surroundings. It is a comeback, what comes next will be fascinating to see. The new material bodes well for the future of the band, there is a mass of built up goodwill for them to tap into, as demonstrated each night on this tour. There are exciting times ahead.
COMEBACKS can be good news and they can be bad news.
They could, for instance, be Pink Floyd at G8, or conversely they could be Northside – boasting one original member – back from the grave with a clutch of tedious indie hits that no one wanted to buy the first time round.
Back in 2001, when James waved farewell to a gathering of 15,000 at the MEN Arena, they joined the likes of Morrissey and Marr and Brown and Squire as ‘Manchester sons least likely to share a stage again’; the sort of event you’d believe when you saw it and flog your first born to get tickets for.
But sure enough, here they are, surrounded by flag bearers and drummer boys pounding out the opening bars of Come Home, back in the bosom of their home city.
And it’s perhaps, then, no surprise that they choose the tune that launched several thousand t-shirts to make their entrance at the very venue that waved them off, or that deep in the mosh pit barely a note or lyric filters through the resultant sing-along. It’s a loaded choice – and it’s lost on no one.
“We’ve come home,” says frontman Tim Booth, breathlessly, scanning the masses with a somewhat bewildered expression before launching into Destiny Calling and reducing the faithful to cheers/tears/nostalgic laughter as he breaks into his full puppet-on-broken-strings dance routine, flailing shamanistically like a man assembled without bones.
It’s been more than ten years since the current James ensemble took to the stage together following the departure of guitarist Larry Gott back in 1996 after Laid. But they’re tight and confident; Hymn From a Village, lifted from their 1985 Factory single, sounds as sparky as ever and stands up well next to a clutch of guitar-heavy new songs – single Who Are You, Chameleon and Upside Downside [ed. later renamed to just Upside for album release] (written “on the road” and performed by Tim with lyric sheet in hand) – and even the electo obscurity and a cappella harmonies of Whiplash’s Play Dead.
A tinkered with Chain Mail shows the band are keen not to rest on the strength of their back catalogue and that Tim’s vocal range has lost none of its heavenly highs or impossible lows, while Strip-mine’s Riders builds to a dramatic finale as the band are plunged into darkness before belting out the closing bars.
Out To Get You touches all the tingly parts that other songs can’t reach and proves the dark horse rabble raiser, while Johnny Yen, Sit Down and Sometimes – with Tim balancing on the safety barrier, twirling his hips like a charmed cobra – are more predicatable favourites.
With his taste for crowd interaction fully whetted, Tim breaks out of the stage confines to get up close and personal with those in the “cheap seats”,
returning to the fold for 1991 album track Gold Mother, fluffing a few lines amid all the excitement and summoning some front row supporters on stage for a boogie.
Encore two – a stripped bare version of She’s a Star, dripping in slide guitar and spotlessly performed – seals the deal and Tim’s parting shot says it all: “This isn’t a comeback,” he pants, forming a huddle with the rest of the band, “it’s a new beginning”. Amen to that.
Six years after they disbanded, the resurrected local indie legends wind up a sold out tour with a homecoming gig for the expectant Manchester faithful.
As the lights dim, teenage cheerleaders with flags appear at the end of the arena. They dance their way through the crowds and onto the stage accompanied by a marching band whose traditional brass sounds gradually begin to pick up the tune to ‘Come Home’. Suddenly the curtain rises to reveal the full band bursting into the song with Tim Booth writhing and twisting centre stage.
What follows is a powerful delivery from a reignited band with a new lease of life. The set features many crowd pleasing favourites such as ‘Sometimes’, ‘Sit Down’ and ‘Say Something’ (sung as Tim climbs through the audience). But there is also an experimental edge to the night as more obscure relics such as ‘Riders’, a dark tale of one of the singer’s nightmares, are given an airing. The highlight of a clutch of new songs was one that they explain has only just been written and is sung from a lyric sheet almost as it’s being born. “Too good to miss,” quips Tim, and I have to agree, as it sounds like a classic new James song with an uplifting, ethereal chorus that is as good as anything they have ever written.
There’s an extended version of ‘Goldmother’ which becomes a vehicle for improvised tribal rhythms and dance, featuring projected prenatal human images of a backdrop behind the band. Members of the audience are invited onto the stage to join the party. The penultimate offering is a beautifully stripped down and languorous reworking of ‘She’s a Star’ which greatly improves on the original.
The evening fittingly concludes with a storming ‘How Was it For You’ with Tim’s gyrating and contorted frame remaining in the mind as a final image of an awesome return. “This is not a comeback but a way forward,” he says as they leave the stage. “Thanks for a beautiful welcome”.”
In the last few years, we’ve welcomed back Morrissey and Take That, and the Happy Mondays are just round the corner. Few, though, could’ve expected the return of James.
Unexpected it may have been but a sold-out Arena was enough to show that the appetite for the thinking Manc’s band is still very much there. Yet what people got for their money was probably not what they expected.
This was stadium rock on a shoestring. Forget the fancy stage dressings and intoxicating light show; but for a few back projections and an ill-conceived marching band, this could have been taken straight to the stage of a much smaller venue with little hassle.
Indeed, the quality of the sound seemed to suggest it already had. With responsibility split directly between the band’s somewhat under-rehearsed renditions and the inability to actually get the levels right on stage, there were a myriad of moments when things were mistimed, the vocals dropped out or it all just resembled a bit of a thrown together shambles.
Still, maybe it was the genuine love that flowed between the band and the fans, maybe it was the sheer volume of the singalongs or maybe it was just Tim Booth’s freaky dancing – so vibrant it could still knock Bez into next week; whatever it was, somehow, it actually worked.
Rampant versions of Johnny Yen, Tomorrow, Chain Mail and Laid probably helped, as did Booth’s clawed-at wander through the seats during the encored Say Something and his clambering onto the crash barriers for Sometimes.
But it wasn’t just about the past. This being the ever unpredictable James, not only did we get both new tracks from their recent singles collection, there was even space for a song so new that Booth had to read the freshly written lyrics from a sheet of paper.
He’d claimed it was because it was “too good for you to miss”. The jury is out on that but it certainly showed that there’s plenty of life in the old dogs yet.
After two encores, closed inevitably with How Was It For You?, the band huddled for a bow. “This is not a comeback,” beamed Booth, “this is the way forward.” Providing they actually spend some time rehearsing and sort out the sound, he might be right.
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.
It’s getting really difficult to write these reviews now, thinking of new superlatives to use to describe the performances of the band at these shows. Physically and mentally the emotion of the tour is taking its toll too. I’m losing my voice rapidly, getting by on three or four hours sleep due to adrenalin post-gig. I’ve done whole James tours before, but that was post 1997 and James then aren’t what James are now. I hope those that are newer to the James family now understand what us old farts meant when we talked about the James live experience. I know it was difficult given the standard of post 1997 performances, but this is different, very different.
Come Home opens with the whole band behind a curtain, before it crashes to the floor as Tim starts to sing, wearing the rather horrible check suit he had on in Glasgow (bang goes the theory of the last minute backstreet hire shop). It’s tighter than in previous nights, the crowd have the space to dance, the slope allows most of them to see, so it’s not as hot or as heavy as previous nights. Probably as well as most of us are not getting any younger. Waltzing Along has the crowd near me singing the introduction tune and there’s a lovely piece of improvisation by Larry during the song. Ring The Bells is stunning, there’s an improvised ending again that builds and builds and builds with Tim adding his lyrics over the top.
The next song is dedicated to The Twang who have been pestering for the song since the tour began. They got their way in Birmingham on Tuesday and Hymn From A Village has been kept in the set. There are pockets of recognition in the crowd, some people continue to dance even though they don’t know it, and it doesn’t sound 20+ years old. Tim alludes to the fact it’s probably older than some of the crowd before introducing Who Are You as a song written a couple of months ago. The reception it gets bodes well for airplay and sales and it being a loved part of the James canon. Chameleon sounds much stronger tonight, it has an interesting beginning which I can’t work out whether it is a screw up or not. Tim’s lyrics in the end section are a little clearer too.
Play Dead is the first of a number of a songs to benefit from the wider expanse of the stage in terms of lighting opportunities. The strobe effects on this song complement the electronic hum of the song perfectly.
Chain Mail lopes and lollops, in a nice way, to its crashing chorus. There are again pockets of dancing and singing around the venue, a sign that some of the older fans have been enticed back into the reunion, but by the end the reception is as strong as for almost everything else that was played at this gig. Fresh As A Daisy indeed.
Except Out To Get You. Whoever put this on the Best Of is probably worthy of a knighthood for services to Jamesdom (hey, I did say these reviews were becoming a struggle). Grown men cry, arms are raised aloft, people choose to sing either Tim or Larry’s part. All this against a very simple but stunning white background against which the band appear in silhouette form. By the end, Saul and Larry are almost eyeball to eyeball, Tim is down on his knees. The highlight of the evening. Perhaps the tour. 4000+ people are in unison.
Five-O, musically, is just as good. Laid still is, in my view, the creative peak of the band to date. The simplicity, the mastery of the tempo just radiate throughout. Larry’s slide sends tingles racing up the spine.
I’ve probably bored you all senseless going on about how great I think Upside / Downside is. And it didn’t disappoint again tonight. The crowd reaction is hopefully a gauge that there is a genuine interest in a future James and this isn’t just a celebration of the past. Let’s hope the band can get something out to us sooner rather than later. It’d be a shame to lose the momentum and massive goodwill this tour has given them.
Into the closing “hits” section, Getting Away With It is quite subdued tonight, it doesn’t quite take off in the way it has previously. Say Something sees Tim making his customary foray into the audience and we get crowdsurfers. To me, Say Something has been the one disappointment of the tour, it’s felt on nights it’s thrown out because it has to be, but it’s a minor quibble.
Johnny Yen is gorgeous. Actually I’ll rephrase that as not to encourage members of my messageboard. The performance is gorgeous. Backed with the strobes, there is an urgency, a passion that twenty one year old album tracks shouldn’t by most laws be allowed to have. The crowd treat it like an old friend, Tim talks about Iggy Pop, the band go off on tangent after tangent, yet remain utterly coherent.
Tomorrow, which Saul tried to play before Johnny Yen, stops after about half a minute. There’s some minor altercation which seems like good spirits, the crowd hurl themselves into it and the song has all the power in the world. Then, to close, Sit Down is sung faithfully by the crowd. Upstairs, security adopt their traditional Brixton jackboot tendencies and frown on those wishing to stand.
Following what seems like an eternity the band come back on and start Gold Mother. The only predictable thing about this song is that it’ll be totally different from any other night on the tour. Tim goes stage right and gets six people up on stage to dance. Four appear to be people he knows (by after-show wristbands) and two more. Their frenetic dancing (and a girl on girl kiss, which I missed) just adds to the utter madness of the song. At one point, Tim positions himself between the dancers and join in.
Laid sounds fresher than previous nights on the tour, by this point the crowd is a mess of steaming bodies hollering back most of the words. Sometimes, once Saul lets Tim speak, is introduced as being about connection. The song spins and spirals to its conclusion before the lights come up and James greet their London audience, won over by the sheer magnitude of what they’ve witnessed. London has lost the cool that Tim had alluded to at some length earlier.
They come back to perform the slowed down version of She’s A Star. The crowd sing back every word, yet it’s still a subdued way to end a set which so many highs, and almost no lows. Again, not quite up there with the heights of Glasgow Saturday and Newcastle, but miles and miles ahead of 99.9% of the bands ever to grace this famous stage.