JAMES BABY // USHER HALL, EDINBURGH
James Bay brings his ‘Leap Tour’ to Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.
★★★★☆ (4/5)
JAMES BAY PERFORMING AT EDINBURGH’S USHER HALL - 25.11.2022
PHOTOCREDIT: ALANNAH MCCLYMONT
It was a cold and wet Friday night in the heart of Edinburgh, but that didn’t stop the hundreds of gig goers descending upon the Usher Hall for a night of live music to see James Bay on his current tour “The Leap Tour”.
First up was Kevin Garrett who is an American singer supporting James Bay on his current Tour of Europe and the UK. As he came on stage and introduced himself the crowd gave him a warm welcome before he began to play his first song. After a few songs Kevin chatted with the crowd receiving a few “I love you” comments followed by cheers. Kevin continued to sing a few songs as the room began to fill up and ended on a cover of “Skinny Love” by birdy followed by applause from the crowd before saying goodbye and leaving the stage.
After a short interval it was finally time for the amazing James Bay to take to the stage. The room was now full of fans being shoulder to shoulder and filled with anticipation. The music began to play, and the lights went black followed by loud excited screams from the crowd. First up was “Best Fake Smile” from his “Chaos and The Calm” Album which was the perfect way to start the first singalong of the evening. His setlist included a mixture of songs from older favourites to his newer ones from his new album “Leap”.
A few songs later “Let It Go” was up next, which was clearly one of the crowd’s favourites as the crowd sang so loud you could barely hear the vocals of James himself! There is just something mesmerizing about watching James perform on stage, just him and his guitar rocking it out along with his band. Halfway through the set he brought out Kevin Garrett who opened the show for him and they sang two songs together before going straight into “When We Were On Fire”, now it is almost at the end of the set and the crowd is still singing and dancing their heart out fully immersed in the music. He ends his set with “Pink Lemonade” and “Craving” before the finale which was none other than “Hold Back The River” and clearly the crowd were more than happy with that as the encore as they once again caused uproar and sang along as loud as they could ending the night just as strong as it started. Although James had a rocky start of the week due to being ill and having to reschedule his show in Leeds on Monday, he put on an incredible show for Edinburgh and by the sound of the uproar and singing from the crowd throughout his set I think they would also agree.
REVIEW + PHOTOS BY:
ALANNAH MCCLYMONT
SETLIST:
USHER HALL, EDINBURGH
BEST FAKE SMILE
ENDLESS SUMMER NIGHTS
GIVE ME THE REASON
IF YOU EVER WANT TO BE IN LOVE
US
LET IT GO
ONE LIFE
SILENT LOVE
NEED THE SUN TO BREAK
SAVE YOUR LOVE - (WITH KEVIN GARRETT)
FADE OUT - (WITH KEVIN GARRETT)
WHEN WE WERE ON FIRE
PINK LEMONADE
CRAVING
ENCORE:
HOLD BACK THE RIVER