Post by volumedistorted on Dec 20, 2010 8:32:10 GMT -5
And the snow fell on UK leaving a chill. My children had woken up with so excited about the possibility of snowmen and I had woken with a sense of anticipation about a night in Manchester that was to promise a treat for someone now too old to get soexcited about snowmen (The chill certainly reaches the bones these days).
We get into Manchester and, having left the children with grandad, made our way into town. Not being that bothered about support acts we decided to park across town and walk through the great northern city. Me and my wife made our way through Christmas lights and wonderful sights along a very festive Deansgate. After a most pleasant, yet decidedly brisk stroll we came to the MEN and mounted the treacherous steps (most of which had been closed for safety reasons) up to the entrance.
We walked in whilst the last strains of the support act were on and the place seemed a little empty – had people succumbed to the weather? We meandered around taking in the many merchandise stalls found our seats just as the support act had left the stage. There aren’t many people inside the stadium either yet – will many not have made it?
We decided to get a drink, at the worst time possible but the 10 minutes in the queue was fine, allowing the anticpation to mount. We returned to our seats and as we looked around and the arena had filled significantly – spot the empty seat would have been a difficult game to win!
The lights went down and the crowd went wild. The reception was full-on and the first jangle of intro to Born of Frustration sounded a shock wave was sent forth through the crowd, blowing away any frost carried in. Tim makes his way around the seated area to the right of stage. Standing on barriers, baiting the crowd, drawing them into the performance. Having been in the seated block that Tim went to, the atmosphere was just electric, everyone on their feet singing. Even those at the back of section 114 were screaming at Tim’s upheld microphone believing that everyone in the stadium could hear us all through it. Like a thousand snakes being charmed into life.
This seemingly flawlessly floated into Seven. An absolute revelation in any James setlist - a song that can feel so intimate even in the largest of venues. “Now we’ve done our time, we can drift away, like a heavy cloud with the weight of rain”, they’ve done their time alright but this band certainly must not drift away - they can pour down on me for a long time to come! I however am in danger of drifting away, up to the side high above the band, it almost feels as though I’m floating above it all - dreamlike.
A triumvirate of Seven songs is completed by the sublime version of Ring the Bells. This song doesn’t change much in delivery but I do not care - they could play this every gig and the sentiment of it would not be lost. It reminds me of a band on top of their game some 18 years ago, a golden age of James live. I still get goose-pimples whatching the Seven live video and this reintroduces me to a eighteen year old boy I thought I’d lost sometime ago (Most careless - to lose something so precious).
“Your gonna love this one” states Larry “…..Manchester always loves this one!”. Nostalgia has gripped me now - twenty years seems to have melted away like the snow beneath my feet that I've dragged in from outside. Makes me want to SCREAM - well anything really.
PS is the perfect antidote, slowing proceedings down an letting us come down from a truly blistering opening section to the gig. From slipping on ice to walking on fire in five easy steps. I would never have said I’d missed this song but it is a welcome addition rendering this opening batch of songs such a worthy anthology to the wares of James at their pomp.
A strange, almost computerised, ethgereal moan emerges from the gloom, where is this coming from? Then stage right a line of ladies and gents make there way stagewards. The Manchester Consort Choir make their way to the rear of the stage and for a moment everything is quiet. The opening of Got the Shakes penetrates the silence as a seated Larry floods the arena with a bourbon soaked blues riff. Dave has brought the drum to the front of the stage and is beating out a pounding rhythm now. It seems a night for threes and this one of the threes is bang up to date and is accompanied by a chorus of voices.
Tell Her I Said So commences with Tim letting everyone know that it was co-written by his mum, about her experience of life in a home. When you think the choir is going to sing the ‘Here’s to a long life’ end section they don’t. I can’t quite work out what it is they are singing but they bring the song to a disco laden finish. It is indeed unfortunate but I find the sound of the choir lost in this arena, a bit like the orchestra last year. You get the feeling if they pulled this kind of stunt in the Bridgewater Hall or Philharmonic in Liverpool it would be a joyous and amazing spectacle - unfortunately it is left a little wanting as an experience in the MEN.
With Tim getting to the business end of an acoustic guitar Lookaway ends this section hinting at moments that could make the hairs stand up on the back of the neck and provide a chill to match the one we’ve just shaken off - but ever so slightlyfalls short of that mark.
Never fear though, because Say Something steps up to the plate and delivers - sending shivers down the spine. I am not the biggest fan of Say Something however tonight it is immense, the crowd reaction frenetic. I love to hate this song but I could not but embrace it on Saturday. If they are to retire this from the setlist then this is the ultimate send off - I cannot see it ever being bettered.
A lovely moment from Larry as he acknowledges his dad’s birthday. An outing that is the first time he’s come to see his son play since his only previous viewing at the free trade hall back in 1985. The crowd shouting happy birthday to Mr Gott as he raises out of his seat in acknowledgement under the spotlight which has been diverted onto Box 19. Just like Fred Astaire is the ballroom whirl befitting of it's dedication to two people who met at a dancehall sixty years ago. It is the swirl in the midst of the flipping of the Say Something double a-side coin.
Jam J is a driving train of noise, being propelled into the open space of the arena by Jim - encouraged by Larry. Fresh and a revelation, being the song of the set that filled the MEN with a curtain of sound. The only gripe can be that spliced between Fred Astaire and I Wanna Go Home was such an abrupt switch that I think the audience were somehat wrong-footed by it. As a result it seemed to lose some of it’s purpose and it’s energy subdued a tad. Anyway those of us who have seen James more than once are used to the curvature of this ball and I adore these three song so much I was not phased in the slightest.
The next song needs no introduction and saw the band, including Dave again bringing forth the drum, make their way looking like a ragged band of retreating soldiers stopping at a rocky outcrop to survey the damage on the battlefield before them. A wondrous version of Sit Down is warmly saluted by the crowd. As to explain the nature of their situation, sat at the front of the stage, Tim states “you started it, so we thought we’d give it back to you”.
Out To Get You is another of those songs that seems to be sung into you rather than at you and live it never fails to deliver. This time it is even more enlivening when the stage is left for Saul to take his starring role. The violin and it owner becomes more and more frenzied towards the climax of the song. On the screens a rather fortuitous camera angle shows Saul being flanked by Tim, who seems so bewilderingly amused and enraptured watching Saul’s solo unfold.
Then the section that I found the hardest to concentrate on after such beauty. Rabbit Hole is a wonderful song but it just does not seem to reach the parts of the MEN other songs can reach. She’s a Star, whilst obviously being a crowd favourite, washes over me at a time I need to be pushed on and challenged just a touch more. I find this rather meanders a little and is rather too staid to keep the energy and tension flowing. (At least it was the ‘Flu’ that causes the out of tune bit at the start. It seems I’ve had a permanent flu because I’ve never been able to reach those notes anyway - as I suspect is true for at least half of the crowd.) The lag suffers into an all too familiar strain of Getting Away With It, the end of which does bring me back to life. In good time too, as this section has served it’s purpose for me - it means I have maintained the mental and physical energy for what comes next.
For me Sound is the most iconic song in James’ repertoire and, as Tim yells for his megaphone, I’m already reeling in its wake. I’m invited to leave it all behind, but what I’m I leaving behind? I’m already so deeply in the moment. This can be no greater evidenced than by the fact that I’m so engrossed when my wife taps me on the shoulder, indicating to the man next to her holding a trumpet, it takes a double take for me to recognise Andy standing next to us in the aisle – I hadn’t even noticed he was no longer on stage. What follows is the perfect proof of why Andy is such an important part of this band - a trumpet solo that illuminates the arena like a flamethrower – pure genius.
“This is a song we wrote many years ago. It’s a song about losing control of your mouth” comes the introduction to the final song by Tim. This song more than all the others in the set shows off what James are all about for me – raw emotion, expression at the edge of control, raucous and full of clamouring energy. Saul brings the drum out onto the catwalk at beats out a charging rhythm joined by Larry who presents his guitar for Saul to batter senseless with the drum sticks. The eagle-eyed would have seen on the sscreens the taped message ‘Hit Me’ on the back of the guitar. Oh you naughty guitar you – take that!
If you don’t get this, you don’t get James, this is about the best it gets. They leave the stage and the crowd actually boo them for daring to leave. It feels like betrayal – come back and finish what you started!
Then a note appears on the screens and handwriting is applied M…..o….r….e……? and the crowd goes mad. They return to the stage “just because we mentioned the encore routine…. You still have to shout for it!” admonishes Tim. it seems they did not argue too hard and long about what to come back with.
They are still in the mood to be “brave” giving the last of the new songs. Dust Motes is played and as Stutter showed of the best of the old Jamesian world this shows off the best of the new. A superb swirling light show in the background is the back drop to a majestic song, delicately fraught with a graceful tension. They could play anything now and I’ll going to feast on whatever they serve me!
Just when I thought I’d seen the best there was to offer, the band is joined on stage by the choir once again for a phenomenal version of Sometimes. In the past this has failed when the band has allowed the crowd to joined in but on this occasion it is the most spontaneous and natural I have ever seen it flow. I suspect from the looks of the band, and Tim’s face especially, it has rarely hit this kind of high.
Goldmother provides another chance for a crowd to form on stage and it’s off-beat energy really creates a part atmosphere even up here in the seats. It takes us past the 11o’clock curfew but the only person, it seems, who wants to leave the party is Tim. Cue more booing – you can’t leave us now. Someone runs of from the side of the stage to tell Tim they can indeed do another. It’s just as well because they would have had a job to drag us out of the building at that point.
And to close Laid, which I have tended to think a tired way of finishing the encore recently, created such a party atmosphere and actually provided perfect way to end this shindig. Everyone around me standing and dancing with nobody having left until the last note of a truly great gig had been played.
Here’s to a long life!
I'll give the final word to Saul who made me laugh with something along the lines of (if anyone wishes to correct this it would be much appreciated as I enjoyed it too much to commit it fully to memory, was it before GAWI?):
"We're all falling apart, everyones got something wrong with them! Larry's sitting down because he's old and his legs don't work anymore , Mark and Tim have flu, Dave's got tonsilitis, Jim's alright .. he always is! .........................And he likes to wear dresses"
We get into Manchester and, having left the children with grandad, made our way into town. Not being that bothered about support acts we decided to park across town and walk through the great northern city. Me and my wife made our way through Christmas lights and wonderful sights along a very festive Deansgate. After a most pleasant, yet decidedly brisk stroll we came to the MEN and mounted the treacherous steps (most of which had been closed for safety reasons) up to the entrance.
We walked in whilst the last strains of the support act were on and the place seemed a little empty – had people succumbed to the weather? We meandered around taking in the many merchandise stalls found our seats just as the support act had left the stage. There aren’t many people inside the stadium either yet – will many not have made it?
We decided to get a drink, at the worst time possible but the 10 minutes in the queue was fine, allowing the anticpation to mount. We returned to our seats and as we looked around and the arena had filled significantly – spot the empty seat would have been a difficult game to win!
The lights went down and the crowd went wild. The reception was full-on and the first jangle of intro to Born of Frustration sounded a shock wave was sent forth through the crowd, blowing away any frost carried in. Tim makes his way around the seated area to the right of stage. Standing on barriers, baiting the crowd, drawing them into the performance. Having been in the seated block that Tim went to, the atmosphere was just electric, everyone on their feet singing. Even those at the back of section 114 were screaming at Tim’s upheld microphone believing that everyone in the stadium could hear us all through it. Like a thousand snakes being charmed into life.
This seemingly flawlessly floated into Seven. An absolute revelation in any James setlist - a song that can feel so intimate even in the largest of venues. “Now we’ve done our time, we can drift away, like a heavy cloud with the weight of rain”, they’ve done their time alright but this band certainly must not drift away - they can pour down on me for a long time to come! I however am in danger of drifting away, up to the side high above the band, it almost feels as though I’m floating above it all - dreamlike.
A triumvirate of Seven songs is completed by the sublime version of Ring the Bells. This song doesn’t change much in delivery but I do not care - they could play this every gig and the sentiment of it would not be lost. It reminds me of a band on top of their game some 18 years ago, a golden age of James live. I still get goose-pimples whatching the Seven live video and this reintroduces me to a eighteen year old boy I thought I’d lost sometime ago (Most careless - to lose something so precious).
“Your gonna love this one” states Larry “…..Manchester always loves this one!”. Nostalgia has gripped me now - twenty years seems to have melted away like the snow beneath my feet that I've dragged in from outside. Makes me want to SCREAM - well anything really.
PS is the perfect antidote, slowing proceedings down an letting us come down from a truly blistering opening section to the gig. From slipping on ice to walking on fire in five easy steps. I would never have said I’d missed this song but it is a welcome addition rendering this opening batch of songs such a worthy anthology to the wares of James at their pomp.
A strange, almost computerised, ethgereal moan emerges from the gloom, where is this coming from? Then stage right a line of ladies and gents make there way stagewards. The Manchester Consort Choir make their way to the rear of the stage and for a moment everything is quiet. The opening of Got the Shakes penetrates the silence as a seated Larry floods the arena with a bourbon soaked blues riff. Dave has brought the drum to the front of the stage and is beating out a pounding rhythm now. It seems a night for threes and this one of the threes is bang up to date and is accompanied by a chorus of voices.
Tell Her I Said So commences with Tim letting everyone know that it was co-written by his mum, about her experience of life in a home. When you think the choir is going to sing the ‘Here’s to a long life’ end section they don’t. I can’t quite work out what it is they are singing but they bring the song to a disco laden finish. It is indeed unfortunate but I find the sound of the choir lost in this arena, a bit like the orchestra last year. You get the feeling if they pulled this kind of stunt in the Bridgewater Hall or Philharmonic in Liverpool it would be a joyous and amazing spectacle - unfortunately it is left a little wanting as an experience in the MEN.
With Tim getting to the business end of an acoustic guitar Lookaway ends this section hinting at moments that could make the hairs stand up on the back of the neck and provide a chill to match the one we’ve just shaken off - but ever so slightlyfalls short of that mark.
Never fear though, because Say Something steps up to the plate and delivers - sending shivers down the spine. I am not the biggest fan of Say Something however tonight it is immense, the crowd reaction frenetic. I love to hate this song but I could not but embrace it on Saturday. If they are to retire this from the setlist then this is the ultimate send off - I cannot see it ever being bettered.
A lovely moment from Larry as he acknowledges his dad’s birthday. An outing that is the first time he’s come to see his son play since his only previous viewing at the free trade hall back in 1985. The crowd shouting happy birthday to Mr Gott as he raises out of his seat in acknowledgement under the spotlight which has been diverted onto Box 19. Just like Fred Astaire is the ballroom whirl befitting of it's dedication to two people who met at a dancehall sixty years ago. It is the swirl in the midst of the flipping of the Say Something double a-side coin.
Jam J is a driving train of noise, being propelled into the open space of the arena by Jim - encouraged by Larry. Fresh and a revelation, being the song of the set that filled the MEN with a curtain of sound. The only gripe can be that spliced between Fred Astaire and I Wanna Go Home was such an abrupt switch that I think the audience were somehat wrong-footed by it. As a result it seemed to lose some of it’s purpose and it’s energy subdued a tad. Anyway those of us who have seen James more than once are used to the curvature of this ball and I adore these three song so much I was not phased in the slightest.
The next song needs no introduction and saw the band, including Dave again bringing forth the drum, make their way looking like a ragged band of retreating soldiers stopping at a rocky outcrop to survey the damage on the battlefield before them. A wondrous version of Sit Down is warmly saluted by the crowd. As to explain the nature of their situation, sat at the front of the stage, Tim states “you started it, so we thought we’d give it back to you”.
Out To Get You is another of those songs that seems to be sung into you rather than at you and live it never fails to deliver. This time it is even more enlivening when the stage is left for Saul to take his starring role. The violin and it owner becomes more and more frenzied towards the climax of the song. On the screens a rather fortuitous camera angle shows Saul being flanked by Tim, who seems so bewilderingly amused and enraptured watching Saul’s solo unfold.
Then the section that I found the hardest to concentrate on after such beauty. Rabbit Hole is a wonderful song but it just does not seem to reach the parts of the MEN other songs can reach. She’s a Star, whilst obviously being a crowd favourite, washes over me at a time I need to be pushed on and challenged just a touch more. I find this rather meanders a little and is rather too staid to keep the energy and tension flowing. (At least it was the ‘Flu’ that causes the out of tune bit at the start. It seems I’ve had a permanent flu because I’ve never been able to reach those notes anyway - as I suspect is true for at least half of the crowd.) The lag suffers into an all too familiar strain of Getting Away With It, the end of which does bring me back to life. In good time too, as this section has served it’s purpose for me - it means I have maintained the mental and physical energy for what comes next.
For me Sound is the most iconic song in James’ repertoire and, as Tim yells for his megaphone, I’m already reeling in its wake. I’m invited to leave it all behind, but what I’m I leaving behind? I’m already so deeply in the moment. This can be no greater evidenced than by the fact that I’m so engrossed when my wife taps me on the shoulder, indicating to the man next to her holding a trumpet, it takes a double take for me to recognise Andy standing next to us in the aisle – I hadn’t even noticed he was no longer on stage. What follows is the perfect proof of why Andy is such an important part of this band - a trumpet solo that illuminates the arena like a flamethrower – pure genius.
“This is a song we wrote many years ago. It’s a song about losing control of your mouth” comes the introduction to the final song by Tim. This song more than all the others in the set shows off what James are all about for me – raw emotion, expression at the edge of control, raucous and full of clamouring energy. Saul brings the drum out onto the catwalk at beats out a charging rhythm joined by Larry who presents his guitar for Saul to batter senseless with the drum sticks. The eagle-eyed would have seen on the sscreens the taped message ‘Hit Me’ on the back of the guitar. Oh you naughty guitar you – take that!
If you don’t get this, you don’t get James, this is about the best it gets. They leave the stage and the crowd actually boo them for daring to leave. It feels like betrayal – come back and finish what you started!
Then a note appears on the screens and handwriting is applied M…..o….r….e……? and the crowd goes mad. They return to the stage “just because we mentioned the encore routine…. You still have to shout for it!” admonishes Tim. it seems they did not argue too hard and long about what to come back with.
They are still in the mood to be “brave” giving the last of the new songs. Dust Motes is played and as Stutter showed of the best of the old Jamesian world this shows off the best of the new. A superb swirling light show in the background is the back drop to a majestic song, delicately fraught with a graceful tension. They could play anything now and I’ll going to feast on whatever they serve me!
Just when I thought I’d seen the best there was to offer, the band is joined on stage by the choir once again for a phenomenal version of Sometimes. In the past this has failed when the band has allowed the crowd to joined in but on this occasion it is the most spontaneous and natural I have ever seen it flow. I suspect from the looks of the band, and Tim’s face especially, it has rarely hit this kind of high.
Goldmother provides another chance for a crowd to form on stage and it’s off-beat energy really creates a part atmosphere even up here in the seats. It takes us past the 11o’clock curfew but the only person, it seems, who wants to leave the party is Tim. Cue more booing – you can’t leave us now. Someone runs of from the side of the stage to tell Tim they can indeed do another. It’s just as well because they would have had a job to drag us out of the building at that point.
And to close Laid, which I have tended to think a tired way of finishing the encore recently, created such a party atmosphere and actually provided perfect way to end this shindig. Everyone around me standing and dancing with nobody having left until the last note of a truly great gig had been played.
Here’s to a long life!
I'll give the final word to Saul who made me laugh with something along the lines of (if anyone wishes to correct this it would be much appreciated as I enjoyed it too much to commit it fully to memory, was it before GAWI?):
"We're all falling apart, everyones got something wrong with them! Larry's sitting down because he's old and his legs don't work anymore , Mark and Tim have flu, Dave's got tonsilitis, Jim's alright .. he always is! .........................And he likes to wear dresses"
