After 40 years, 16 studio albums and several line ups the aptly named JAMES LASTED tour is storming the country with the ORCA 22 ORCHESTRA and the MANCHESTER INSPIRATIONAL VOICES CHOIR, and even though I’ve seen the band more times than I can remember, Tuesday night totally blew my socks off.
With such a huge back catalogue it must have been challenging to pick out the set list, they could have just re-vamped all the crowd pleasing hits but instead they mixed it up, digging deep into albums such as STRIP MINE, THE NIGHT BEFORE, THE MORNING AFTER and even B SIDES ULTRA, I was especially made up they played my favourite JAMES song TEN BELOW. A whole new dimension was added to songs that even I had shelved at the back of my memory, some would call them album fillers, but these were the ones I found worked best with the orchestra, who were certainly animated during golden oldie MEDIEVAL.
Two welcome additions to the main band in the last few years are Chloe and Debbie, when Chloe and Tim sang HELLO face to face and MOVING ON there was such a tender, honest feeling to their performance that you couldn’t help but well up and get goosebumps, their harmonies were sublime. Debbie has to be my new favourite band member though, sorry Saul, this girl drummed with passion, precision and personality on the new track LOVE MAKE A FOOL, which was the only song where TIM allowed phones to be used, and her energy was astounding as she had a turn battering David’s drum kit on HYMN FOR A VILLAGE. Saul still provided Manchester with the biggest laugh though, the crowd had all risen from their seats to sing along to SAY SOMETHING so Tim had asked the crowd to refrain from their clapping frenzy after the intro to GETTING AWAY WITH IT kept getting all messed up, declaring the band will get f**ked if they don’t get it right soon. Saul jumped in and said he wouldn’t actually mind getting f**ked so they can ignore Tim and clap, as long as they do it in time with David. I should add that Saul wasn’t just there for the laughs, his playing was impeccable too, especially the haunting violin solo, I’ve never heard the Apollo crowd so quiet.
I also need to mention the rest of the band all played their part, Adrian, Jim, David and quirky Andy Diagram whose trumpet playing was as fabulous as his outfit, dressed all in white with a fascinator topping it all off, I’m still wondering if he broke his toe that night tripping over his skirt. The first section ended with NOTHING BUT LOVE, some of the choir donning red heart glasses as they all joined the band front stage, the audience couldn’t help but stand up and sing to this one. What a first half that was and now a 30 minute interval to rush to get toilet breaks and a drink before part 2 as nobody wants to miss a thing.
Tim always likes to stray into the crowd for a bit of fan interaction and first did so during JUST LIKE FRED ASTAIRE, roaming down the aisle and touching the sea of hands, and he even began the second half of the set with MAGIC BUS from the back of the stalls, he did apologise to the circle for not making it up there, the logistics were the only thing stopping him though. TOMORROW had been requested quite a few times during the show, however I think it was always going to be in there, whereas SOMEONE’S GOT IT IN FOR ME was one of the bands random picks for that night, they like to read their audience as they go along.
The set ended with the splendid SOMETIMES, which sounded like a brand new song yet still so familiar, just fantastic, the audience, orchestra and the choir were on their feet singing and clapping for an eternity, no one wanted it to end.
The encore was pure genius, Tim was waiting on stage for conductor JOE DUDDELL to re-appear, he grabbed the sticks, waving them and the orchestra responded by playing their instruments in a frenzy. Tim joked that it wasn’t that hard so he carried on conducting and the orchestra played RAVELS BOLERO to perfection, which eventually merged into the bands marmite song SIT DOWN (the original version). BEAUTIFUL BEACHES was extremely moving but also a really catchy tune and the night ended with ALL THE COLOURS OF YOU, MANY FACES and BORN OF FRUSTRATION (not one of my favourites but it sounded wonderful and I sang along to every word).
This was a truly memorable experience, it was so different for me and I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy the lack of freedom you get at a normal gig but it so worked. No 7 foot giants standing in front of me, no one chatting all the way through, and the no phone rule should probably be applied more often as you can truly immerse yourself in the moment and there’s less chance of missing anything (well apart from the fact there was a huge harp being carted off stage at the end that I hadn’t been aware of, I think I was too busy enjoying those drums. So apart from unnecessarily having to climb several flights of stairs to get a drink in the interval the whole night was magnificent and I will most definitely be buying the new album, BE OPENED BY THE WONDERFUL, on June 9th.
Setlist
Part 1
DREAM THRUM
DUST MOTES
THE SHINING
SEVEN
JUST LIKE FRED ASTAIRE
SPACE
HELLO
TEN BELOW
SAY SOMETHING
GETTING AWAY WITH IT (ALL MESSED UP)
NOTHING BUT LOVE
Part 2
MAGIC BUS
LOVE MAKE A FOOL
MOVING ON
MEDIEVAL
HYMN FROM A VILLAGE
TOMORROW
SOMEONE’S GOT IT IN FOR ME
SOMETIMES (LESTER PIGGOTT)
Encore
BOLERO/SIT DOWN
BEAUTIFUL BEACHES
ALL THE COLOURS OF YOU
MANY FACES
BORN OF FRUSTRATION
Words: Joanne Marsland
Photos: Steve White
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