Saturday night saw James complete their two-night run of sold-out shows in the glorious surroundings of Halifax’s Piece Hall. With the threatened torrential downpours holding off they took us through a career spanning set full of improvisation and surprises amongst most of their biggest songs.
It’s 8.40 by the time James make the stage, the audience having spent the day in the surrounding bars meaning there’s a few of the usual idiots worse for wear among a crowd here to witness what journey they take us on.
They start slowly, Way Over Your Head, from last year’s Yummy, seduces rather than overwhelming and showing that they still have the knack of creating a chorus that thousands can singalong to. There’s a minor technical mishap as they show the video to Moving On to accompany the song making it feel even more poignant than normal despite catching out those who’d forgotten the radio and video edit dispatches with the first chorus.
Say Something has Tim down on the barrier seeking connection with the audience as the Halifax crowd find their voice. Sometimes, pulled forward in the set recently, has a similar delirious effect as well as a marriage proposal in the first few rows. It’s followed surprisingly by Laid. Tim acknowledges the unusual make-up of the set by joking that they’ve done the encore so they’ll have to resort to ventriloquism or telling jokes for the rest of the night.
Thankfully what we do get is a glorious Five-O, the magical interaction between Saul’s violin and Jim’s bass in an extended intro one of the highlights of the night. Everything seems to click, Adrian’s solo is stunning and the song is elevated to new heights. The North American tour to play the Laid album promises to be something truly special.
Stay is preceded by Tim telling the story of how the song is about urging someone to stick around and not let go of life and recalling his own story of searching for a reason to live as he fought his own medical issues in his twenties. Before All Good Boys he references the recent Adolescence program as talking to the same societal problems in young men as the song addressed back in 1999 when it appeared as a b-side. Tim concedes it should have been on the Millionaires album and as it reaches the conclusion where the instruments drop out and five of them sing the refrain it’s hard to argue.
They then really step it up with a wild Honest Joe where you sense their improvisational juices are starting to really flow. Tim moves around the stage, totally lost in the moment, drawn like a moth to a flame to whoever is doing something they wouldn’t ordinarily. The lights simply add to its climactic ending as it stops dead.
That flow becomes a torrent during a magnificent Johnny Yen that teeters on the brink of implosion as Tim submits to the crowd’s will to dive over them and the rest of the band hold the song together, taking it down new paths. There’s a sense of elation on Tim’s face at the end as he smiles at his bandmates as he climbs back onto stage. It’s in moments like this where James are peerless.
Tomorrow continues in a similar vein, Tim venturing to the side of the stage to sing with the BSL interpreter in a touching moment while the band push the boundaries of the song’s new arrangement that starts off slow and builds, ratcheting up the song’s intensity.
Heads is a powerful blast, starting with a flurry of hand claps on stage and in the crowd. The powerful spiky beat of the song and the lighting that accompanies it might be far from the big hits around it but it’s every bit as much a part of James’ DNA as Tim rails against white supremacy and privilege.
Born Of Frustration’s calling card yodelling is bellowed back at Tim by the crowd as he stands mic in hand drinking in the scene in front of him before returning to the barrier. Attention is glorious, perhaps the best we’ve ever seen them play it, the juxtaposition between the song’s three sections making it a thrilling ride aided and abetted by lights that capture the mood of the song perfectly.
Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) starts with a teaser intro before revealing its identity and turning the floor into a mass of dancing and singing bodies. The main set finishes with a powerful pulsating Sound that has Andy up on the balcony as band and audience look up as his trumpet cuts through the rain that’s made a brief experience.
The encore starts with a yearning Shadow Of A Giant, the gorgeous interplay between Tim and Chloe’s vocals and harmonies fitting for the beautiful surroundings of the Piece Hall.
Beautiful Beaches has made itself almost a permanent feature at the back end of James sets, a hit single in an era where guitar bands don’t have them. It finishes with a flurry of dual drums from Dave and Debbie illuminated on their risers while the rest of the stage is in darkness while the other members of the band turn and watch like the rest of us.
Sit Down finishes the night, starting with a long extended keyboard intro from Mark and ends with the band watching awestruck as the crowd take the song from them and make it their own, a communal coming together and a powerful statement of how music can break down barriers and unite.
James played Way Over Your Head, Moving On, Say Something, Sometimes, Laid, Five-O, Stay, All Good Boys, Honest Joe, Johnny Yen, Tomorrow, Heads, Born Of Frustration, Attention, Getting Away With It (All Messed Up), Sound, Shadow Of A Giant, Beautiful Beaches and Sit Down.
James' official website can be found here. They are on Facebook and Twitter. Some of the band - Tim, Andy and Dave - are also on Twitter.
We also run the One Of The Three James archive, the most detailed resource for information about the band, and the site also has a Facebook and Twitter page.
TimBoothLyricADay, whose posts often lead to Tim explaining his thought processes behind the lyrics, can be found on Twitter and Facebook
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