My apologies for writing a second James review in a couple of months. This was however a very different show and worthy of some reflection. I lived in Bedford about thirty years ago and there was nothing ever as good as this on. I guess there is just more live music nowadays, thankfully.
We missed Tom A Smith as it clashed with the first half of the England vs Switzerland game, but I have seen him before supporting Billy Bragg. A bit of a Sunderland Sam Fender, and certainly worth a listen. He is incredibly young, or perhaps I am just very old. We also missed The Magic Numbers for the same reason, but we did see 3/5th of line up that Bedford Summer Series had put on!
We parked on an old friend’s drive directly opposite from the park entrance, which was unbelievably convenient logistically, and in terms of a couple of beers and football. The last time I saw this friend was at the Reading Festival in 1989. Many years have passed, and our paths nearly crossed at his current school, but the length of time just evaporated in seconds as we got reacquainted, and our respective families got to meet. A great start to the evening, and we haven’t seen any bands yet!
We headed into the park at half time and all seems very orderly and well organised. Not too muddy either despite heavy rain. The VIP half of the standing area did not appear that much more advantageous given the evening sunshine, and chairs are all further back from stage, removing a pet hate for me at outdoor events in the general admission areas. The Inspiral Carpets appear with their crap organ music (their words on their first EP!) and kick off with an energetic Joe. She Comes In The Fall is clearly known but a fair number in the audience at this Manchester dominated lineup. Later in the evening an acquaintance of my friend points out that the Inspiral Carpets were in fact from Oldham. My favourite Directing Traffic from that first EP gets an early play. I just love the randomness of its lyrics.
Stephen Holt (who was actually the original singer before Tom Hingley) remarks that they have been doing this for 35 years, and just wanted to see ‘how long they could make it last’. He regularly asks for football updates (it was still 0-0). The stage visuals are a mixture of Inspiralesque crapness and cultural Madchester references. I Want You gets both a Mark E Smith intro and outro, and fond memories of ‘Cool as fuck’ T Shirts pop onto the stage backdrop. I recall my friend Paul’s mum who refused to wash his obscene profanity ridden garment. He bought it round my house to clean it - some were even arrested in the late 80s for wearing them. This Is How It Feels is well received just as Saka saves England’s skins with a well needed equaliser. Debut album Life gets 60% of the setlist unsurprisingly, with later LPs Devil Hopping and Revenge Of The Goldfish making up the rest. A bit of a one album band perhaps, but they seemed to have made it last!
Johnny Marr comes on to Armatopia and considerable applause. Each of his solo LPs get some coverage but we do get 6 Smiths songs and Electronic’s Getting Away With It. I guess this is understandable in a ‘festival’ orientated set, and on his headline tours the split is probably the other way between solo/covers. Do go and see him on tour as his solo material is excellent, with the odd Smiths cover just providing the icing on the cake. That said, the audience was thoroughly appreciative from the early Panic to the mesmerising How Soon is Now.
The highlight for me was Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want. It was simply beautiful. The evening sunshine was getting ever lower, Marr’s voice was spot on and the audience just sang it with him. His version is more like the Dream Academy’s cover (remember the Art Museum scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?), and the version I have come to prefer over the Smiths original. Blasphemy some might say. I’ve been fortunate in seeing Johnny Marr several times, but my long lost school friend had not, despite loving the Smiths in their heyday. He was understandably impressed by Marr’s continued brilliance. Thankfully this was not the last we saw of Mr Marr this evening.
So, James come on a little late, and of course Tim Booth has to do things a little differently. This time he appears from the mixing desk tower and walks along the central barrier to stage. This is a mega orchestral set up and the setlist is pretty unpredictable with Magic Bus, Dust Motes and The Shining kicking off proceedings. I counted about 30 people on stage which makes Springsteen’s E Street Band look sparse.
We then get the lovely acoustic version of Sit Down, which is unsurprisingly welcomed by the crowd. Throughout the set the band go all the way back to Medieval from second album Strip-Mine, as well as material from the excellent All The Colours Of You and this year’s Yummy. With strings, choral and brass modifications is often tricky to identify the song too early on. Tim Booth’s voice is exceptional, as is the clarity of the sound system in the park. The latter aspect certainly gives me confidence to attend these concerts in the future - most impressive.
Shadow Of A Giant is the single offering from the latest LP and it comes over brilliantly. I saw them play this about a month ago in an arena, yet it sounds very different. I hear a couple of songs I cannot remember ever hearing in over 20 James gigs such as Hello, Ten Below and The Lake which is simply testament to how versatile this band is. Naturally a few better known hits make up the end of the set, hastily rearranged as time is running out. They don’t bother to go off and on again in case of wasting valuable pre curfew seconds.
Johnny Marr makes a welcome return for Laid, with Tim Booth paying tribute to a man who helped them considerably in James’s early days. The band provided support for The Smiths the Meat is Murder tour. Marr seems genuinely happy to be on stage for this finale. Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) is the last song played and seems most apt. Whilst a totally professional outfit, James have a slightly chaotic edge to them live, which is most endearing.
One final amusing anecdote which links in nicely with the point earlier about the ‘Cool as Fuck’ T shirt that my friend’s mum wouldn’t wash. My (long lost) friend Ian and I are reminiscing and we think back to the mid 80s in Germany. His father was serving in the army and we were visiting my grandmother in the same army town. We were listening to the 12 inch version of Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. On the sleeve notes there was some reference to someone in the band ‘licking the shit’ of someone else’s shoes. His mum was so disgusted at these profanities (or perhaps just annoyed at her teenage boy’s incessant interest in the cover) that she scribbled the words out with a biro. Ian said that he would dig out this adapted 12 inch vinyl version. Fond teenage memories.
Editor – Unfortunately, I was unable to go to this, but what an amazing line up!
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