★★☆☆☆
During a career spanning 35 years, James have survived pop fame and its aftermath, including a long sabbatical last decade. Even today, their impressively faithful following still translates into sold-out arena shows and Top Ten albums. Their latest, Girl at the End of the World, was kept off the N0 1 slot only by Adele.
Alas, these Manchester scene veterans sometimes take this loyalty for granted, repaying it with patchy and undercooked shows such as this, the first night of an extensive British tour. Heavily reliant on new album tracks, the set list ignored some of the band’s biggest hits in favour of weaker material. It also suffered from muddy acoustics and an ill-prepared feel that blurred the line between spontaneity and amateurism.
James began with a commendably off-the-wall gambit, a stripped-down arrangement of their 1997 single She’s a Star on cello, trumpet and acoustic guitar. Yet the show soon settled into a more conventional groove, with new tracks such as Bitch and Surfer’s Song sounding sluggish and sludgy.
The lead singer, Tim Booth, struggled to stay in tune, clumsily scanning lyrics from a sheaf of papers scattered at his feet. Several numbers had to be stopped and restarted. At times it felt like watching a private rehearsal, not a professional concert. “Do you know the new album?” the singer asked the Bristol crowd. “We don’t!” quipped the guitarist and violinist Saul Davies.
Waves of euphoria rippled through Colston Hall when James finally deigned to drop some more familiar anthems into the mix. Sometimes, Tomorrow and Sit Down all had a galvanising effect as Booth embarked on Bono-style walkabouts through the seething crowd.
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Yet between these exhilarating peaks lay yet more flat expanses of new material, including the dowdy Dear John and the pedestrian Feet of Clay. The final half-hour contained more rousing tunes and flashy showmanship than the first hour, but it was too little too late, and oddly complacent for such seasoned live performers.
Friday, O2 Forum, London NW5; Saturday, O2 Brixton Academy, London SW9, then touring nationwide