JAMES LIVE AT TK. MAXX PRESENTS… SCARBOROUGH’S OPEN AIR THEATRE

★★★★★ (5/5)

JAMES LIVE AT SCARBOROUGH’S OPEN AIR THEATRE
PHOTOCREDIT: PHILIP ROBERTS

James have headlined one of my favourite venues, Scarborough Open Air Theatre on a number of occasions now, Friday night was the latest visit. If you haven’t been yet you’re missing out, the 8-8,500 capacity venue is a brilliant place to see live music.

For those who are regular attendees but haven’t been for a while they have changed the food vendors, I’m a big fan of the bratwurst stall myself.

James always make sure they make a night of it at Scarborough, the last couple of times they’ve had two support acts, and this trip was no exception.

Originally the first support act should have been Girlband, but they had to drop out. As a result, the Lilacs stepped in at very short notice. I didn’t get to see most of their set due to a traffic accident on the road I took to the venue, but I knew there had been a change of band as coming into the amphitheatre I could tell it definitely wasn’t Girlband. Speaking to the guys I was sitting next to the said the Lilacs did a brilliant job of getting the crowd going, which given they could only have known they were playing that day, is very impressive!

The main support was Reverend and the Makers, having never seen them before I was really looking forwards to this as they have a big reputation as a live act. They didn’t disappoint, they clearly saw it as their mission to get everyone in a party mood (the lead singer, Jon Mclure even stating it he saw it as his job to warm us up for James). Sharing he’s a massive James fan and how excited he was to be there really endeared him to the crowd, as did his openness about his mental health issues including a brilliant story about going to support Sheffield Wednesday and eventually having to move in the ground. All that aside however, the most impressive thing about Reverend and the Makers is that they are a brilliant live act, a consummate front man, brilliant musicians (two of whom were late minute stand-ins due to an accident and a clash with other commitments) fantastic songs and a level of energy coming down from the stage that flowed through the crowd and got everyone very much up for it! It’s a brave support act who have a go at some of the crowd for not trying hard enough but it’s all in a day’s work for this singer. He got everyone bouncing, signing, clapping, showing their hands and generally having a brilliant time. It’s not often I want the support act to keep going, but on this occasion I could have watched them all night, they are a brilliant live act who go out on a headline tour later this year, A number of the crowd promised them they’d be there I hope they are as this is a band that very much deserves a much wider audience! He did say they were off to play a festival the next day and their manager had said they couldn’t stay for all of James, his response, I’m coming in the crowd, they’ll need to find me, I strongly suspect they didn’t until the show was over and he’d seen all he wanted to see…

However, there was a main act still to come, and what a main act, I’ve seen James live a few times now and they always bring their A game. I’ve been lucky enough to never see a poor live show from them and this was no exception. As Tim said, there is something about Scarborough Open Air Theatre that brings out the best in them. This was no exception. Opening with She’s a Star (what an opening number) they mixed hits with songs from their excellent new album, Yummy, and maintained a level of energy throughout that kept everyone up, singing, dancing, swaying, bouncing, clapping and generally having a brilliant time. The slowed down version of Sit Down was excellent, the confession that they had no idea how long they take to play their own songs because they improvise so much and often end up having to cut songs, Tim doing his normal trademark dancing, the two drummers, having the trumpeter appear on the roof of the bar, all added up to a brilliantly memorable show.

When you can finish with the triple whammy of Sometimes, Come Home and Laid, my own favourite James song, casually drop in Say Something, Sound and Out to Get You among other brilliant songs, look like you keep playing for another couple of hours and make it all look effortless you might be on to something.

I personally think James are one of the best live acts in the country right now and have been for some time. I’ve never seen them and not danced, not sung, not left with a big smile on my face. Tim Booth and the rest of the band are very much their own people, they are not trying to be anything other than they are. They produce brilliant music and do it all with a graciousness that makes them stand out. There is always a natural warmth in a James gig, a sense of inclusiveness, a feeling that everyone there is having a great time, and this gig was one of the best I’ve been to, which is a high bar for this band.

If there are any festival bookers wondering who to get for next year book both Reverend and the Makers and James, job done, just sit back and watch the party! If I have one complaint its Born of Frustration didn’t make it into the gig but that’s a minor complaint in an otherwise brilliant night. Even the sun appeared, and the crowd wandered off into the Yorkshire night happy, singing and knowing they’d seen a brilliant show. What more can you ask?