Post by takemeanywhere on Aug 23, 2009 7:36:17 GMT -5
Festivals are a strange affair, especially when you are not the headlining band. The crowd is made up of fans, casual observers waiting for the headliner and 'happen to be in the field at the time' type-folk. It is therefore almost inevitable that bands will play greatest hits set, in the hope of pleasing everybody – the ultimate impossible mission. Inevitable for almost every band, that is. James have tried many different ways of playing a festival set. From opening with a handful of brand new songs at their most bloody-minded to the late-nineties ‘best of’ sets, they really have tried everything. Today, the set is about balance, giving the crowd what they crave whilst still keeping something back for themselves. Not an easy task.
Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) was never a huge hit but has become a live favourite over the years and no sing-a-long is louder today. The three-part harmony between Tim Booth, Larry Gott and Andy Diagram is simply sublime. The big guns are out early and they don't come much bigger than the trumpet-laiden Ring The Bells and Sit Down, the latter opening with a piano line so lush and sumptuous as to induce lumps in throats and spine tingling. The band has the crowd in the palm of their hands very early and earns the right to take it (slightly) leftfield. Hey Ma is introduced as a song about the errors made by Bush and Blair and the crowd prove that they are only here for the hits as the chatter level rises. This turns out to be the only song lifted from last year’s ‘comeback’ album of the same name, a sign perhaps that the band feel that it wasn’t that well received. This would not have bothered Booth and the boys at one time and surely, at the very least, Upside would have worked here.
Stutter is curtailed, as if to suggest that the MTV generation do not have the concentration for the ‘comedown’ section. We are therefore deprived of the beautiful combination of Booth’s whistling over Jim Glennie’s discordant bass, although the three drummer onslaught is impressive. Two lesser-known songs are clearly more than enough for the crowd and Out To Get You is deemed necessary to bring them back. Saul Davies’ violin is achingly beautiful and has Booth applauding proudly at the end. James throw one further curveball in the shape of ‘new’ song Not So Strong, the lyrics so new that Booth has them typed out. It is perhaps a bigger surprise that they play it at all, in the week that they are giving it away free via their website. James have often dodged the obvious. Not today though.
The closing section has become set in stone over the past couple of years. Sound builds and throbs and Diagram’s interesting sway impels Booth to that familiar flailing dance and this in turn lifts the crowd. Sometimes does what it has always done, smiles, hugs, singing and dancing being the crowd reaction. Laid is the inevitable closing song and turns the field into one heaving mass. Even after all these years, this must be a hugely gratifying sight for the band and they leave to a deafening roar and calls for more.
In summary, James play it safe. They are extremely tight as a band which is hardly surprising, given that they have been playing this setlist seemingly for eons. Those of us who witnessed the edgy, bloody-minded sets of yesteryear yearn for a return to those days but maybe this is unfair. Elbow and Oasis play sets later in the day and neither band takes any risks whatsoever. James are weighed down by their history and maybe, just maybe we have been spoiled. The crowd go away feeling that they have been treated to all the hits and will tell their friends how great James were. And maybe that is all that really matters.
Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) was never a huge hit but has become a live favourite over the years and no sing-a-long is louder today. The three-part harmony between Tim Booth, Larry Gott and Andy Diagram is simply sublime. The big guns are out early and they don't come much bigger than the trumpet-laiden Ring The Bells and Sit Down, the latter opening with a piano line so lush and sumptuous as to induce lumps in throats and spine tingling. The band has the crowd in the palm of their hands very early and earns the right to take it (slightly) leftfield. Hey Ma is introduced as a song about the errors made by Bush and Blair and the crowd prove that they are only here for the hits as the chatter level rises. This turns out to be the only song lifted from last year’s ‘comeback’ album of the same name, a sign perhaps that the band feel that it wasn’t that well received. This would not have bothered Booth and the boys at one time and surely, at the very least, Upside would have worked here.
Stutter is curtailed, as if to suggest that the MTV generation do not have the concentration for the ‘comedown’ section. We are therefore deprived of the beautiful combination of Booth’s whistling over Jim Glennie’s discordant bass, although the three drummer onslaught is impressive. Two lesser-known songs are clearly more than enough for the crowd and Out To Get You is deemed necessary to bring them back. Saul Davies’ violin is achingly beautiful and has Booth applauding proudly at the end. James throw one further curveball in the shape of ‘new’ song Not So Strong, the lyrics so new that Booth has them typed out. It is perhaps a bigger surprise that they play it at all, in the week that they are giving it away free via their website. James have often dodged the obvious. Not today though.
The closing section has become set in stone over the past couple of years. Sound builds and throbs and Diagram’s interesting sway impels Booth to that familiar flailing dance and this in turn lifts the crowd. Sometimes does what it has always done, smiles, hugs, singing and dancing being the crowd reaction. Laid is the inevitable closing song and turns the field into one heaving mass. Even after all these years, this must be a hugely gratifying sight for the band and they leave to a deafening roar and calls for more.
In summary, James play it safe. They are extremely tight as a band which is hardly surprising, given that they have been playing this setlist seemingly for eons. Those of us who witnessed the edgy, bloody-minded sets of yesteryear yearn for a return to those days but maybe this is unfair. Elbow and Oasis play sets later in the day and neither band takes any risks whatsoever. James are weighed down by their history and maybe, just maybe we have been spoiled. The crowd go away feeling that they have been treated to all the hits and will tell their friends how great James were. And maybe that is all that really matters.
