Tim performed Iggy Pop’s The Passenger with Johnny Marr during his set.
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Tonight, James made their way to the windy city where it felt like it was ten below outside. Good thing the band was there to warm us all up.
The sound check opened with Basic Brian. A wonderfully melodic song from Wah-Wah. A rarity in the live arena. James had debuted Brian at the previous night show in Michigan and it was good to hear it again tonight. Wah-Wah is just a brilliantly discordant record. Sometimes there are allusive jams, and next, there are wonderfully, near complete songs. Brian is somewhere in between the chaos and a dream. Five-O followed, with Tim exclaiming that “Five-O just isn’t sounding right, so it needs work.” Personally, I think Five-O sounded great in DC, and it sounded just as good tonight. Then, Gold Mother, which the banded teased that would make it’s debut in the show proper. If so, would there be on stage dancing during the lie show? Only time would tell. The sound checked finished with Tell Her I Said So, again with an audience sing-a-long.
The show proper started with Tim and Larry playing Lose Control acoustically. The two wove their way from the back of the crowd toward the stage. Tim with a mic in hand; Larry with a guitar. The audience didn’t have time to even warm up the band with an applause- the lights weren’t even dimmed yet as the two started playing. The music just appeared from cacophony of the audience’s pre-show chatter. As the first chord was strummed, there was a hush of excitement. The audience, turned. And Larry and Tim emerged from the darkness off-stage . Tim and Larry gave us a vibrant rendition of Lose Control with Larry strumming his guitars, tempting the familiar chords into a new life, into a new world, while Tim’s voice echoed the pain of a man adrift in some dark night.
Next, came Seven, which is one of my personal favorites. The refrain, God made love to me, soothed away my gravity, gave me a pair of angel’s wings, clear vision and some magic things, is one of the most beautiful passages ever written. Hearing Seven live was a pleasure. While Seven may not have the end of the show gloss like a Sound, or Sometimes, Seven still holds such lyrical beauty. Expounding the search for love, the balance of the heart, and the mystery found in between the discovery and the dream, Seven is a lovely song which I hope continues to be played for years to come.
After Seven finished, Tim revealed to the audience that he had looked at the setlist from two years ago, and not to retread old ground, the band wanted to play songs they hadn’t played for us before. And so the night would prove to be a new journey for us all.
Tim then said that Jim had played a brilliant new intro to Just Like Fred Astaire, but had already forgotten what he played Luckily, Tim had recorded Jim’s intro on his iPhone and promptly held his iPhone up to the mic to play it for the audience (and for Jim so he could play it again).
Unfortunately, Tim’s plan didn’t work, as all anyone would could hear when he held his iPhone up to the mic was distortion. Larry came over to help Tim hold the iPhone’s speaker directly into the mic (Tim had his iPhone positioned wrong, hence the distortion). Saul joked about Tim being a “so called modern man” and by the time we could hear something other than garble, Tim had given up the idea.
None of this mattered of course, as the band launched into Just Like Fred Astaire with great fervor. The audience loved this too, and sang the song all the way through.
Hearing new songs again tonight really brought a new energy to the show. And this what makes James a brilliant band. Never sitting back and being lazy, always exploring, feeding, energizing not only themselves, but those who enjoy them.
The show evolved and grew. The energy was thick and alive. The audience was amazing. Responding without hesitation to the band’s enthusiasm and spirit. At times, Tim would stop singing songs and just watch us all, like a curious scientist, examining the results of an experiment, Tim was curious to see what we would do when he just, stopped singing. How we would respond to his silence. Each time we responded the same- we continued to sing. Raising our voices higher and higher, letting the band play on and on.
At the end of the show, when Gold Mother was played, audience members were brought on stage to dance. Even on such a small stage, the audience members danced and gyrated to the song as if they had all the space in the world. While some of them ignored Tim’s warning not to take photos or videos, none of it mattered, as the unscripted uncertainty unfolded, the audience members unwinding, opening up, letting themselves go, finding their courage through their dance. The dancers’ energy was intoxicating, and Gold Mother gave birth to new sounds, a new presence that felt even more alive than ever before.
There was one more song. The few on stage were allowed to stay, and Laid was there to close the set. We didn’t want to let the band go; the audience could have cheered them on all night. But all good things must come to an end, and alas, the band said ‘goodnight.’
And as I left the venue, I had the thought, the realization that the band feels even freer than they were two years ago. Happier. Healthier. I see Mark talking. Smiling even. I see Andy dancing. Moving around the stage more like he did in the days of the Seven album and tour. The dialogue between Saul, Tim and Larry is amusing. Humorous. Filled with a camaraderie found only with the closest of friends. And they are friends. All of them. A band of brothers. Of mates, all wanting to play music, create art, and move through the sanity and chaos together, as one.
It seems as though the band has no more shackles. No more fear. There is a contentment in this reformation. A peace. While their bodies are older, their spirits are all free. And so the audience is rejuvenated from the songs, just as the band find their tempo, their rhythms, so too, do we all. The band writes songs we can identify with. The band plays with an energy we are tune with. And from this place, we all move forward. Pressing on from what haunts us. Moving forward from what binds us to our place. We are able to reexamine ourselves with their music, and the band is able to help find balance through us. It is a wonderful symbiosis that exists between us, as an audience, and James, as a band; one that I hope continues for years to come.
Review by BRD
Ah, another sold-out James show, this time in the historic Vic Theater in the tiny Lincoln Park neighbourhood of north Chicago. Though the venue is roughly the same capacity as the James show at Toronto’s Phoenix the other night, but the stage is far larger, roughly the dimensions of London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, allowing James to stretch out and run amuck. We arrive just in time to catch opening act Amy McDonald, from Scotland, who is a real spark live.
At roughly 8:40 James hit the stage to another warm reception – you’d think they were long lost friends who had reappeared after a ten year absence. To keep things fresh the band turn the setlist Upside down from the previous night – putting in 5 different songs and rearranging the running order of a number of the repeat songs. Not content to leave it at that, they re-arrange and truncate Sound as well. Its hard to find another band that is halfways as flexible and inventive as James are with setlists.
Andy is on this evening, whether its his great accompanying vocals in I Wanna Go Home, or trumpet work in Bubbles. Tim is a bit petulant tonight though – chastising the audience for not shutting up during his attempt at an extended silent break towards the end of Upside. Everyone makes up by the time Tim appears in a balcony box to sing encore opener Top of the World – always a set stopper this one.
The audience tonight seems to really get off on the older songs, whether its Ring The Bells or singing along to the chorus of Sit Down. And no matter which city it is, Out To Get You just brings the house down in pieces; amazing how that old chestnut continually makes that emotional connection with the crowd. Suprisingly, Hey Ma doesn’t seem to do much for the crowd tonight even though we’re in Barack Obama’s adopted hometown.
Saul as always is inspiring, whether its his great violin work in Top of the World, or taking over the vocal chorus of night closer Sometimes. And before we know it, in under two hours its over for the night! James always come and go too quickly!
Laid / Discover / Wave Hello / Down To The Sea / Sometimes / Fall In Love
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| Song | Artist | Year | Format |
| Laid | James | 1993 | Song |
| Discover | Tim Booth | 2004 | Song |
| Wave Hello | Tim Booth | 2004 | Song |
| Down To The Sea | Tim Booth | 2004 | Song |
| Sometimes (Lester Piggott) | James | 1993 | Song |
| Fall In Love (With Me) | Tim Booth and Angelo Badalamenti | 2016 | Song |
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The performance was abandoned due to rain.
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