James' Love Is The Answer Tour headed to Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena on Saturday night, their first visit to this venue in a decade. With a refreshed setlist, changing both the main set opener and closer, playing a brand new song in the encore and reintroducing an old favourite into the set, they ensured that those who'd avoided the chaos of the Grand National in the city had bet on the right horse.
In a surprise move, Five-O opens the set as the intro video stops, the stage spotlight shines on Saul and his violin intro to the perennial favourite from the Laid album. It works perfectly though as the song's energy builds, Adrian's guitar solo is stunning yet unshowy, and Tim loses himself in the music. It might not have been an obvious opener for a raucous Saturday night but then that what James are, and always have been about.
The trio of I Know What I'm Here For, Ring The Bells and Sit Down really ratchet the atmosphere up. Brought back for this tour, I Know What I'm Here For's signature keyboard line gets the masses moving, something the more frequently-played Ring The Bells never fails to do. Sit Down is a glorious celebratory moment, from the point the crowd recognise what Dave's pounding drum beat is about to kick into, through the breakdown where at one point the crowd are pulling the song in one direction and Tim in another. He eventually concedes defeat and lets the ten thousand strong chorus take over.
Anyone expecting a greatest hits only set though is soon relieved of that expectation. Heads is a glorious collision of strings (Adrian's cello and Saul's violin) and drums (Dave and Debbie with added Chloe on a third drum) set to a backdrop of fires that creates a vision of an apocalyptic end. At the end Tim comments that with such rich gifts that the world has, listing both bananas and eggs amongst them, that there is surely enough for us all to share.
"From the political to the ridiculous" is how Tim introduces Curse Curse, but there's frankly nothing to ridicule in this real crowd favourite, a greatest hit from the days that bands like James don't have hit singles anymore due to the almost extinction of physical media for singles. With a superb set of animations of skulls and technology transforming the band into part human / part mutant on the screens behind them, its playful lyrics and the breakdown where Chloe takes over with the megaphone, it's a very welcome return to the set for a song that would feature very highly on more fans' dream setlists than the band might think. Junkie has been a surprise selection on this tour and tonight's version is intriguing - it feels slightly slowed down, has a jazzy (not in a bad way) feel to it and it evolves into an improvised musical and lyrical end section that's an understated highlight.
Tim then ventures out into the banks of seating in the arena for three songs - although whether the third one is intentional or he just got stuck with no quick way back. Say Something is fittingly a song about communication, coming together and as he makes the lives of those he gets to close quarters with, it's an uplifting moment. It's not the most complex, radical or ambitious James song, but it distils so much of them into a perfect three and a bit minute pop song. She's A Star similarly allows the focus on the front man up searching for connections and swerving phones at the back of the room while the song has everyone joining in singing.
Born Of Frustration starts with Tim at the back of the room and finishes with him back on stage after a moment where Jim stops them before the song kicks in to check on someone in the crowd, something he has to do again later but which the security staff at the venue quickly resolve.
It wouldn't be James if they didn't then take the audience on a creative trip. Greenpeace is dedicated to the "courageous pioneers" of the environmental protest movement. It's a song that gets stronger each night they play it, a song from the James sub-genre that contains the likes of Stutter, Jam J and Honest Joe, every bit as important in the vast catalogue as the simpler and more celebrated. Controlled chaos ensues, rumbling bass, megaphone vocals from Chloe in the chorus set to a light show that perfect complements the whole thing.
Yummy is represented by the duo of Shadow Of A Giant and Way Over Your Head. The former is to all intents a duet between Tim and Chloe, duelling over the intro before coming together, walking down to the barrier and singing to the front rows, but still filling the arena and the song explodes in glorious life. Way Over Your Head is likely to be Yummy's moment to endure in sets for years to come, like Curse Curse, a hit from the wrong time, soaring, uplifting and with a chorus that is just begging to be taken and sung by thousands.
It's back to the hits for the final run-in to the encore. Waltzing Along has Tim down on the barrier again, a gloriously uplifting song that they managed to lift out of the ordinary when revisiting it a few years back, now a real feel-good moment and a sweet relief for those who are here for the hits. Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) is sung back with gusto, as if on the football terraces, and the screen pans to Tim looking on in wonder at the scene in front of him. The main set finishes with Tomorrow, a really slow long intro teasing the crowd and then it hitting the breakdown and Jim and Saul building the song back very very slowly but surely, creating a pressure valve that's released for one final explosion of joy. Their creativity here isn't just restricted to new material, it's in reinventing and revitalising old favourites in a way that will still delight the casual fans and fascinate the hardcore.
There is one more twist. Thankfully, unlike Glasgow, there is time for the band to reveal their latest masterpiece, the eight-minute journey of Nantucket. Tim advises those who'd normally go to the bar or for a piss at the thought of a new song to stay put. A song with a dozen or so separate sections that demonstrate the musicianship of the nine of them yet which still has moments where the power of the song captures the audience and has them clapping along to something most of them will never have heard before unless they'd been at one of the earlier tour gigs. It has singalong sections, a cello solo from Adrian and a sense of impending cessation before taking off in another direction. It's quite magical and not hard to understand why the band are so proud of it - Tim telling us "we wouldn't play it if we didn't value it so much".
Sometimes and Laid send the crowd out buzzing into the cold wet night. There's no extended ending to Sometimes and some nights it's better for it as they kick straight into Laid that has the floor bouncing all the way past the deck, almost drowning out Tim's vocals. Liverpool's often overlooked on tours because of the need to sell the huge arenas down the East Lancs, but James are now at the point where they can do both such is their resurgence and it feels right that they've returned to the city that gave them so memorable nights at the likes of Royal Court and the University.
James played Five-O, I Know What I’m Here For, Ring The Bells, Sit Down, Heads, Curse Curse, Junkie, Say Something, She’s A Star, Born Of Frustration, Greenpeace, Shadow Of A Giant, Way Over Your Head, Waltzing Along, Getting Away With It (All Messed Up), Tomorrow, Nantucket, Sometimes, 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 Cardiff Utilita Arena (13), 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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