James' Love Is The Answer tour rolled into Cardiff International Arena on Monday night. A perfectly balanced and flowing set had something for everyone - a generous smattering of hits from their 1990's chart heyday, select choices from their reformation period and a glorious brand new song that shows their creative spark is still as bright as it's been at any point in their career to date.
Opening with Five-O after the introductory video stops dead is a genius move. Saul's violin pierces the silence as he leads them on to the stage like a modern-day Pied Piper. Familiar enough to anyone who's followed James for years as it's a perennial live favourite, it never ceases to reinvent itself with Saul at the forefront, the crowd clapping along to a beat they pace with such precision and a section where they improvise and Tim stands and watches, as in awe as the rest of us.
It's followed by a trio of hits that warms up the Cardiff crowd further. It might be a Monday night so there's less alcohol consumed, but it feels like people are really up for this gig, something that hasn't necessarily happened in previous visits and the venue is noticeably fuller too. Waltzing Along has Tim down on the barrier for the first time searching for connections whilst I Know What I'm Here For has a real energy to it that shows James' habit of bringing back older songs pays dividends because of the freshness it brings. Ring The Bells rarely needs rest, the song powering itself along under its own wait as Andy stands centre stage blasting out the trumpet call of the breakdown as Tim removes his signature hat at the end and laments the facto that they're not being made anymore.
They then bring themselves right up to date with recent single Hallelujah Anyhow which gets its strongest reaction to date as the slightly stripped back arrangement they've gone for works as the lift between the verses and the exaltant chorus is a potent one. At the end Tim thanks the crowd and tells them it's extremely gratifying when a new song gets such a response as they have to work harder to get into the psyche than the older ones that live in the memory.
Shadow Of A Giant steadfastly refuses to budge from the set, a glorious moment that transcends the man on the street’s view of what James are. Tim and Chloe’s vocals combine beautifully whether in the rich evocative harmonies of the opening section or when the build can’t be contained any longer with the two of them starting from either end of the walkway in front of the barrier moving to the middle as the song reaches its crescendo.
Tim then compliments Cardiff on being a cool and integrated city and its community feel, before adding he doesn’t say that to every city (we’d vouch for not being able to recall it ever). He’s then off on his travels as the opening bars of Just Like Fred Astaire ring out. Cameras focus on him, both on the big screens and from feet away as he passes through the crowd, stopping to sing directly to lucky folk he feels he can connect to. He stays out for Say Something and for the first time on the tour completes a full circle of the seated area, returning to the stage just as the band kick into PS.
It’s a rarity that James play both Five-O and PS at shows, it’s usually either or if they’re played, but, perhaps inspired by the Laid tour they did in the US last year, the two centrepieces of the record have made appearances together. It allows them to stretch musically, give Tim time to recover from his excursion as he, like the rest of us, stands and admires the interaction of Chloe’s vocals, Andy’s trumpet and Saul’s violin centre stage as the song takes on new life.
“We’re going from the ridiculous to the sublime” Saul tells us as the instantly recognisable intro to Curse Curse kicks in. Joyful, uplifting and one of the most lamented when absent songs, it’s an uplifting fun track that propels itself forward under its own momentum. James then take us on a detour with Greenpeace and Zero, two songs from very different eras of the band, but which both are born from their love of experimentation and improvisation. Greenpeace is all threatening rumbling bass-heavy until Chloe’s megaphoned vocals cut through in the chorus. Zero starts with the immortal line “we’re all gonna die..” and swoops and soars majestically. At the end Tim rants that there should be enough on the planet for everyone not just the rich and that the billionaires, like the rest of us, won’t escape death.
She’s A Star takes us back on to path more well-tred and is greeted ecstacally by the Cardiff crowd while Way Over Your Head sees Tim down on the barrier conducting a singalong as the Welsh crowd take the signal and join in.
That’s amplified by a glorious Sit Down that feels like a glorious communion and exorcism all rolled into one, the band clearly taken aback to the response to a song that has so much history of them. Tim tells us at the end that he used to eat lots of leeks because his Mum told him the Welsh were the best singers because of them but he didn’t realise she was bullshitting him (about the leek part). He then tells us he’s not going to crowdsurf as he’d seen the terror in people’s eyes when it looked like he would and that he’s fragile and people can’t hold him with one hand if they’re filming.
The main set finishes on Sometimes before they take their first bows and then return with a very Jamesian move up their sleeve.
Whilst 2020s James have retained most of their ethos, principles and spirit that fueled them in the 1980s, one thing that got lost was playing new songs live before recording them. There were a couple in 2017 but before that it was 2013’s tour before La Petite Mort and the infamous Hey Ma shows of September 2007 where they showcased all the tracks (and many unreleased ones) in two intimate nights in London.
Nantucket is spectacular and the band are rightly immensely proud of it, a song of many different diverse sections that stand alone in their own right but which come together as greater than their individual sums. Tim loses himself in the instrumental sections, delivers memorable lines like “you’re calling me an arsonist, but everybody knows I love a good fire” and a bullet-fast line about a, presumably autobiographical, “life-loving, meditating, fornicating, hallucinating, edge-walking, sober buddhist” character. The crowd response to it is as strong as anything else at the end, testament to the fact it is simply fucking brilliant.
Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) starts with a longer intro with Tim singing a melody over it. It’s a new take on it, testament to their desire to not just perform songs parrot fashion, and it works beautifully as it then moves into the always uplifting anthem the song has become for the band. They finish on Laid, a raucous blast, the first verse sung first by the crowd then by Tim, as the floor bounces along en masse.
A James gig is always an occasion, their setlist changing means every experience is different with the thrill of not knowing what you’re getting and with the risk that the chosen set might not flow as well as other nights. Cardiff felt like they hit the sweet spot and balance, something for everyone wherever you sit on the James rollercoaster.
James plated Five-O, Waltzing Along, I Know What I’m Here For, Ring The Bells, Hallelujah Anyhow, Shadow Of A Giant, Just Like Fred Astaire, Say Something, PS, Curse Curse, Greenpeace, Zero, She’s A Star, Way Over Your Head, Sit Down, Sometimes, Nantucket, Getting Away With It (All Messed Up), Laid
James' official website can be found here and they are on Facebook and Twitter.
The Love Is The Answer tour with Doves calls at Nottingham Motorpoint Arena (14), London O2 Arena (17) and Manchester Coop Live (18) before a series of summer shows.
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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