JAMES : 1998 TOUR STORY

reproduced as posted on the wattyco messageboard by oneofthethree 

The tour started off in Hereford on the 4th,we arrived early and were fortunate enough to hear James soundcheck and play seven new songs straight through. Gene supported and were excellent but James came on at 9 to Spiritualised and the Sit Down 98 backing track. They played four of the new songs - I Defeat, Confusion, I Know What I'm Here For and Vervacious. They also threw in Heavens and Lost A Friend for the lifers and those who'd joined the James ship with the Greatest Hits. Sit Down was immense and even Come Home had new life breathed into it. Sound just gets longer and longer and better and better.

Moving onto Birmingham, we were allowed to queue inside (surely one benefit of arena shows) and got down the front again. The Stereophonics were excellent although I was disappointed they only played one new song. James played a similar, but different enough, set - throwing in Surprise and an attempt at Real World Jam which collapsed half way through. We were also treated to Tim appearing in the crowd for the encore.

Sunday was a day-off before we went to Plymouth, which was the lowpoint of the tour. The crowd seemed more interested in crowdsurfing than listening and the security would have been better off staying at home as they actually made the situation worse - I ended up grabbing some bastard by the throat as he came over the top for the fifth time in three songs.

I was seriously worried after the show especially as the merchandising security were confiscating John's fanzine Change of Scenery outside the venue and the band had ditched new songs in favour of the Greatest Hits although this was apparently mostly due to the sound problems they were having. They did get Real World Jam right though, then never played it again.

Newport was a return to form. Gene were excellent again, but James returned to form, treating us to two more new songs Fred Astaire and If Anybody Hurts You. Brighton followed suit, the band really catching fire, improvising mid-song, Tim dancing properly again.

Wembley was simply glorious. I felt so proud walking down Wembley Way with my big James jumper, so I can't even imagine what the band felt. Despite the huge arena, James were intimate, alive and just indescribably brilliant. I'd talked friends into going and they were simply blown away. Vervacious was the standout track for me, but I could have picked any.

Manchester was a little disappointing in comparison, the band still performed well, Tim went into the crowd twice, the new songs were well received. Maybe the biggest problem was that it was the night after Wembley and with standards that high, expectations are more.

Glasgow was incredible. The Monday setlist included Lullaby and Tuesday's saw I Defeat and Surprise reappear. Both nights saw stunning mid-song improvisation both vocally by Tim and on violin by Saul. The crowd was the most responsive of the tour and by the end of the second night Saul was in tears.

They unveiled eight tracks from the new LP and here's a brief resume:

I Know What I'm Here For - originally unveiled at Oxford in June, this song now has an almost breakbeat keyboard background and is an anthem to match anything they've done before. Tim's reaction when questioned on whether the line "hanging on for late December" was an allusion to a split was a "you never know", but don't worry. The singalong "nah nah" ending will be acrowd favourite very soon.

Surprise - not played too much on this tour, but has been speeded up slightly. Excellent backing vocals from Michael and a band favourite so we may see this as a single at some stage

I Defeat - my favourite song of the new ones. Tim laments on ruining relationships by his behaviour. Absolutely beautiful song.

Confusion - a weird sex song from both male and female perspectives, a guitar riff runs through the song and Tim uses a megaphone for the final verse

Fred Astaire - a love song that you can play at your wedding - at last! Obviously written about Kate and the band's favourite but they can't get a studio version they're happy with yet.

If Anybody Hurts You - only played once and the band were disappointed with it, Tim mentioning something about an imaginary orchestra at the end. A revenge song over a repetitive beat.

Vervacious - a fantastic trip of a song, starting off with just Tim's vocals, building through to a crescendo of noise and then back to Tim singing.

Real World Jam - only played twice and messed up once. Starts slow with a backbeat and then builds up to a flying finale.

The real highlight of the tour was for me in Glasgow when Tim introduced me to the crowd as being there every night and that he'd phone the police if I wasn't there and then dedicated Destiny to me. As a result, Dean from their entourage, brought me out backstage passes. Tim introduced me to Peter Rudge as the man who talked him into agreeing to release Sit Down 98. They asked what we thought should be the new single. We then ended up back at the hotel in the bar after the show, sharing Saul's pizza, drawing pictures with Dave's daughter and generally being very drunken and ending up with Saul's shirt (the one with the blue bits on the arms). Mark promised us guest list tickets for Tuesday as well and was true to his word. We couldn't however find anyone to give our tickets that we'd bought away to.

Tim mentioned me again on the Tuesday, which really embarrasses me but is obviously nice. Backstage, he'd disappeared, but we spoke to Peter again about the next single and the band invited us on to Trash, a club in Glasgow, where we continued drinking large amounts of lager (not big, not clever, but who cares?)

Anyway, we discovered the following (well this is what Stuart, Ailie and I can remember) :

A single should come out in February. It's likely to be I Know What I'm Here For, but they're going back into the studio this week to work on Fred Astaire.

The album will come out late April or early May, but they're waiting to see when the likes of Catatonia, Blur etc are releasing their albums. Tim, Saul and Mark have been doing most of the writing.

There are plans for a tour of smaller Uk venues in May, followed by a European tour and possibly some co-headlining shows at Stirling Castle with The Stereophonics. There will then be a bigger venue tour in December. There are no plans to tour the US at the moment because of the cost.

There are no plans for a video release at the moment as they can't get a deal that will make them money to do so. This was also why there was no Greatest Hits video release.

Larry was going to play at the NYNEX show, but he's got some problem with his arm at the moment so couldn't. He played on the original jam of I Know What I'm Here For as he was down at the studio on the day the Best of went to number one.

Tim's been offered a few acting roles, but hasn't agreed to anything. He'd been offered a role in Heartbeat apparently!

They didn't play new songs in April, because they didn't feel they were ready and they hadn't rehearsed at all, so that sort of explained the setlist thing.

They don’t have an album title as yet.

They do all read the fanzines and enjoy them. They were all pissed off to hear about CoS being confiscated by merchandising and promised to sort it out for the next tour. They were also pleased to hear about the James night, but again didn't know it was happening.

Jim is a big South Park fan and now has a Mr Hanky keyring with no arms.

The band were all wonderfully friendly (they even introduced us to their girlfriends/wives/children) and they appreciate the support of all of us and asked me to pass that on. Saul went to great lengths to explain that his stage persona is driven by adrenalin and not malice or anything. They've promised me tickets for the next tour and that they'll keep me informed of what's going on so I can share it with everyone as they recognise there is a lack of information sometimes and they want feedback as well as they don't get it apart from the fanzines. If you are lucky enough to meet them, don't be in awe of them, because they're all down-to-earth people like us who just happen to have a special musical talent.

There's probably lots more to write, but I'm struggling to remember.