James Come Home To The North

The Charlatans were a perfect choice to open up for James on their current tour. The band led by the ever youthful Tim Burgess treated the fans to the best of their back catalogue. Weirdo still sounded as good as back in the day but it was a tribute to the late Buzzcocks singer Pete Shelley who sadly passed away a few days before that was resounded.

Ever Fallen In Love resonated with the Manchester audience. An even bigger surprise was when Verve guitarist Nick McCabe joined the band on stage with the band.

Home town gigs are always special and seeing James in front of their home crowd brought an atmospheric gig home to the north. It could have been all about nostalgia but the band released earlier this year one of their finest albums of the career to date. The band never seem to stand still or rest on their laurels and are always pushing the boundaries.

Hank opened up the gig. The video for the song was actually filmed at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax though seeing the song performed in front of a sold out home crowd was even more special.

Lead singer Tim Booth always has a strong connection with the audience - he walks and plays every bit of the stage - and off it too as he frequently was either crowd surfing or singing a track as he walked through the fans - the worried look on the security man's face was a picture as Booth continued to sing on with wild abandon.

Surprisingly Sit Down was sung 4 songs in that showed the band have confidence in their older tracks. Introducing new singer Chloe, Booth joked that she was "there to catch the high notes he can no longer catch, just like you will catch me if you put down your phones"

The band have lost none of their political stance as new song Heads is concerned about the current political situation in America before Stutter from 1994 seems more personal as Booth reveals the track is about one of his relationships.

Come Home closed the gig, it couldn't have been a more apt title as home comings don't get any better or more welcoming than this. As Booth reappears singing How Was It For You as he walks down the stairs halfway though the arena fans are trying to get selfies with the charismatic singer.

It's not long before he is back on stage with the rest of the band as Sometimes closes the gig.

There had been no gimmicks, no fancy trimmings just the band and the music and the rapport the group have with their audience. Come Home? James did it with good northern style.

James play Hull Arena on Friday 22 March 2019