Big arena
gigs are always a bit tricky to pull off, because it's too easy to be a little
too impersonal and detached from the sea of faces in front of you if they're
not all deeply connected to the band. This is, of course, James we're talking
about, and their shows are all about connecting to their fans, and my entourage
was in a cheery and optimistic mood about the event we were about to witness.
Meo Arena is known for its, at best, subpar acoustics and sound quality, so no
optimism there, but from the first notes of Lose Control, complete with Tim and
Andy walking through the crowd to get to the stage, it was noticeable that much
work had been done to improve that. The sound quality was top-notch, crisp
clear, rich and loud but not too loud.
By the
second song, Oh My Heart, that Tim describes as a celebration of those times
when your heart gets broken into something bigger, all seven boys are on
stage, armed and dangerous with huge smiles and tons of love. Walk Like You,
the opener from La Petite Mort, is very positively received by the crowd, that
joins Tim in his pitch-perfect falsetto, and everyone loses track of themselves
by the latter part of the song, expanded from the recorded version with a
little bit of extra improvisation and flair. Judging by the amount of people in
my section loudly calling for Emily to come to bed, Frozen Britain is already a
hit among fans, if not a smashing commercial success in radios. And it's pretty
obvious that everyone still remembers 7, a single long lost in the 90's, and
they let themselves be carried away by Andy's soaring trumpet calls.
Then we
dance.
Curse Curse
is ecstatic fun, and to follow it up with Laid has been a stroke of genious. 10
solid minutes of frantic dancing later, the souls are pleased and the lungs are
empty, and not a face is spotted without a smile.
Two semi
obscure songs follow the dancey hits. What's the World, one of the first they
ever wrote, contrasts with the desperate and langourous I Wanna Go Home. Tim
jokes that he's forgotten the lyrics, but he gets to every word with precision
and graces us with his trademark really, really prolonged note, this time
hitting the 47 seconds mark. All Good Boys is a B-side that fully deserved to
be in an album, with gorgeous vocal harmonies from Larry, Tim, Andy and Saul.
Quicken the Dead, one of the lesser known songs from La Petite Mort, features
some beautiful piano work by Mark as well as lyrics that question the goals we
set for ourselves in our very limited life spans. Just Like Fred Astaire is
treated by the arena as the fan-favourite it has always been, and then the mood
comes down and everyone listens attentively to the mostly unknown or forgotten
gems Jam J (which had to be restarted due to a faulty microphone), Dream Thrum
and PS. The crowd then respectfully keeps their quiet to let Tim hit the always
difficult, deeply beautiful song for Gabrielle, All I'm Saying, punctuated by
some playful soul that threw him a handkerchief for his tears. Perhaps the gig
would have benefitted if these last four tunes would have been placed in between
major hits, as four less radio friendly and less famous songs in a row can get
a crowd to lose their focus a bit, but once again, this is James we're
reviewing, and they quickly wake the building up with a rendition of Getting
Away With It (All Messed Up) that has Tim, injured back and all, crowd surfing
around the arena, passed gently from hand to hand without missing a note.
"Like a boss", as kids say these days.
Moving On
is a song that pretty much touches everyone, because each and every one of us
has lost people that we cared deeply about. And the ones we love will always
leave a little light on for us. It was truly heart-warming to hear so many
hundreds of people singing this along. It's wonderful to realize that Moving On
has really caught up and is now a true major hit. As it fully deserves. Gone
Baby Gone, the dynamic and catchy dance tune that has taken everyone in this
tour by surprise, sees Tim invite a few fans to the stage, and they dance the
night away. The band finishes off the main set with Sound, beautiful as always,
and that's how you have thousands of adults united in falsetto, thousands of
hearts thumping as one to Dave's beat. A beautiful moment, right there.
The encore
starts with Tim and Andy in the balconies, for the crowd-favourite Born of
Frustration. The intro to Interrogation takes a good three minutes, because
both singer and trumpet player need to come back to the stage, the long way round,
but once it gets going, the song grows and grows and the voices joining in
prove, once again, the great reception La Petite Mort has had in Portugal. And
nothing can surpass 10 minutes of bonding over such a massive hit as Sometimes,
that is no longer a song by the British 7-piece alternative rock band James but
rather a song by the global 10,000-piece alternative rock band James, because
once again, singing together, we are all James.And that's
exactly what's so different about James. The band love their fans and clearly
love what they do. The unconditional, reach-out-and-touch-it love that
transpires from them is returned tenfold and makes for amazing live concerts.
It obviously helps that the band are on top form, at the peak of their careers,
but what makes the difference is the connection they have with the audience.
James are, and I type this with zero hyperbole, the best live band around, bar
none. The next time they're around your town, do yourselves a favour and grab a
ticket. You will not regret it.
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