James opened up for Catfish And The Bottlemen at their massive outdoor show at Heaton Park in Manchester on Friday night. With front man Tim Booth nobbled by an ankle injury they delivered a hit-heavy set to a crowd many of whom were too young to remember them reforming yet alone their 90s chart peak.
It’s something Tim recognises before second song She’s A Star as he jokes that their parents will have told them about it and them after dedicating the song to all the women and girls in the audience as encouragement for them to shine. It’s a strange line-up for James to be on. By rights they should be headlining this park (or across the city in Wythenshawe) to their own audience - their sell-out of Coop Live is irrefutable proof of their pulling power in these parts and that they’d have no problems selling 30k+ tickets with a suitable supporting cast (we came up with Doves, Inspiral Carpets, The Slow Readers Club and Ist Ist as we left) but here we are.
An audience completely unfamiliar with them puts songs in different light. Sound has Andy down on the barrier as the song hits the improvised breakdown to a sea of bemused looking faces on the big screen not sure what to make of it. Heads, Way Over Your Head and Beautiful Beaches come from later period James but we sense those listening near us connect more with them than they do with Sound, Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) and Come Home. Heads, is probably the highlight of the night, the on-stage energy transmitting as large parts clap to the song’s powerful drum beat. The sound is excellent, better than we’ve heard at an outdoor show here and you can hear the subtlety in Out To Get You and the raw energy in Tomorrow’s new arrangement.
James are clearly hampered though by Tim’s injury - it changes the dynamic and robs them of him going down and connecting close up with the crowd, surfing and challenging them to react and of course his iconic dancing. The sight of him seated and spinning across stage seems ironically to have got them more press attention but it feels very surreal.
Sit Down and Laid light the spark though. From our viewpoint by the sound desk we can’t see the stage any more for a sea of mobile phones held up to capture thirty seconds for Tiktok or whichever app is the rage these days. The singalong for Sit Down threatens to drown out the band whilst Laid has clearly transcended generations. For a moment it feels like their own show - the response goes all the way to the back and up the hill.
We make our way to the exit battling through the crowds excited for the return of Catfish And The Bottlemen. No shade on them, but we saw them in 2013 and 2014 in the likes of Night And Day, Band On The Wall and Factory in town as they broke big after years of touring round grassroots venues and don't need to see them in 2025 surrounded by people half our age living their best lives so we leave them to it to avoid the chaos that ensues exiting any show in Heaton Park.
James played Sound, She’s A Star, Getting Away With It (All Messed Up), Come Home, Out To Get You, Way Over Your Head, Tomorrow, Heads, Beautiful Beaches, Sit Down and Laid
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
Follow Even The Stars on Twitter at @eventhestarsuk and like our Facebook page for all the latest updates
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