Live Review: James

Manchester band James was responsible for many seminal songs of the early 1990s. Sadly, the band never toured Australia - until 2016 - when, even more sadly, they skipped Adelaide. Tonight, finally, fans in the city of churches achieved satisfaction at this sold-out, sweaty Monday night pub gig.

As the eight-piece squeezed themselves onto the relatively tiny stage of The Gov, singer Tim Booth appeared to cherish the intimacy of the venue and remarked that it was “nice to see the whites of our eyes”, before quickly adding that it had taken the band a while to get here. This was acknowledged by a cockney chap behind us who screamed, “Twenty-nine fookin’ years!” – reminding us that this night had indeed been a long time coming.

Kicking off with Johnny Yen, from the group’s 1986 debut album, things didn’t sound quite right – and the stage soon became even more crowded, as several roadies struggled in vain to get some sound from the bass guitar amp. Booth filled the uncomfortable pause that followed the song with a joke. Thankfully the technical issue was quickly rectified, and the band continued on, giving us the title track from new album, Living In Extraordinary Times.

Unfortunately, this new song, as well as the next few, all seemed a little sloppy and the first half-hour of the show was a little underwhelming. Even their biggest hit Laid, which featured early on, fell a bit flat, rather than lifting the roof off like it should have. Booth did explain that guitarist/violinist Saul Davies was suffering from vertigo and wasn’t present, so perhaps his absence was the reason for the slightly shambolic start. 

It wasn’t until about 40 minutes into the show that band and crowd fully gelled. This was marked by the moment Booth ventured into the crowd to sing Say Something from the floor. From here on things picked up and the mixture of old classics and new material was warmly received. Booth’s striking dance style was captivating to watch. He was clearly enjoying himself, even venturing back into the crowd for How Was It For You?.

Trumpet player Andy Diagram, who is responsible for much of the group’s signature sound, was also revelling in the moment, venturing into the crowd himself and climbing up the pole during Sound – an absolute classic song of the pre-Britpop era.

A surprising standout of the night was Many Faces, an anti-Trump song that saw everyone join in gleefully, leaving Booth and co seemingly touched when the singalong reached a crescendo.

While Born Of Frustration sadly didn’t make it into the setlist tonight, plenty of other favourites did, including Sit Down and Come Home, ensuring everyone went home happy.