James – Corn Exchange

The last time I saw James was at the Usher Hall with my sister, and it turned out to be one of the more memorable gig experiences of my life.

At one point, Tim Booth looked directly at me, shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “Why not?”, and promptly launched himself into the crowd, landing more or less on top of me as he crowd-surfed across the audience.

Apparently, he’s advised not to do that these days.

Health and safety, insurance, common sense or some other modern inconvenience seems to have put a stop to it. Whether that’s the reason he stayed on the stage this time or whether it was down to the fact he was suffering from food poisoning, I’m not entirely sure.

Either way, there was to be no Tim Booth body-surfing incident on this occasion.

The concert itself almost got off to a shaky start.

The show had been billed as a warm-up date for James’ forthcoming tour and was only announced a couple of weeks beforehand. Unsurprisingly, tickets disappeared quickly. There was no support act, which meant the entire evening belonged to James, but there was a slight delay before they appeared due to Tim not feeling particularly well.

Thankfully, once the band took to the stage, there was little evidence that he had spent the day battling food poisoning.

Professional musicians are a strange breed.

Most of us would struggle to leave the house under those circumstances, never mind stand in front of hundreds of people and deliver a full concert.

James, however, have always been a band that seem to thrive on adversity.

I’ve seen them several times over the years and what continually impresses me is their ability to make every performance feel spontaneous. Even songs I’ve heard countless times still seem capable of surprising me when played live.

Part of that is down to Tim Booth himself.

He’s one of those rare frontmen who never appears to be simply going through the motions. Whether dancing, improvising, interacting with the audience or disappearing into the music completely, he brings a level of commitment that remains infectious.

The warm-up nature of the show gave the evening an added sense of excitement.

There was a looseness to proceedings that you don’t always get on a fully established tour. It felt like the band were still discovering exactly how the new material and setlist would work in front of an audience, which made the whole thing feel a little more intimate and unpredictable.

One challenge I faced was that Emma wasn’t there.

She was working, which meant I couldn’t hand over filming duties as I usually do.

Instead, I was forced to do everything myself.

This created something of a dilemma. On the one hand, I wanted to capture enough footage for BillyWatson.tv. On the other hand, I actually wanted to enjoy the concert rather than spend the entire evening staring at a camera screen.

I attempted to strike a balance.

Whether I succeeded is for others to decide, but I think I did a reasonable job. The footage certainly captures the atmosphere of the evening, and more importantly, I still managed to lose myself in the performance rather than treating the whole thing as a filming exercise.

Looking back, it was another reminder of why James remain one of Britain’s best live bands.

Even with a delayed start, a singer battling food poisoning and no support act to ease them into the evening, they delivered a performance full of energy, emotion and the sort of connection that has kept audiences coming back for decades.

The videos below are entirely my own work for a change. Emma was unavailable, Tim Booth stayed upright and James once again proved why they’re still one of the most compelling live acts around.

Though I must admit, part of me was slightly disappointed not to have a singer falling on my head this time.