Shooting Our Mouths Off

On Friday 7th July 2017, James returned to Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl for the first time since their triumphant headline performance in 2014. Joining them for the evening were familiar faces The Slow Readers Club, who previously supported the band on their 2016 arena tour before reuniting with them for another run of dates later that year.

Walking onstage to chants of “READERS”, the local favourites wasted no time launching into ‘Start Again’ from their latest album, Cavalcade. It quickly became clear why The Slow Readers Club had earned such a formidable reputation as a live band. Frontman Aaron Starkie’s commanding vocals held the Castlefield Bowl crowd spellbound, with arms raised and voices united as fans sang along to every word. From the heartfelt ‘Days Like This Will Break Your Heart‘ to the mesmerising ‘Plant the Seed‘, the quartet delivered a set that was both powerful and emotionally charged. With a headline tour on the horizon, including a stop at Manchester’s hauntingly beautiful Albert Hall, The Slow Readers Club are only continuing their upward trajectory.

James’ headline set began in suitably unconventional fashion as trumpeter Andy Diagram took to the stage alone. Armed with his trumpet and a series of looping machines controlled via a mobile phone mounted to the instrument, Diagram crafted an atmospheric opening before bringing his solo performance to a rousing finale with the instantly recognisable riff from The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army‘. By then synonymous with chants of “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn”, it took only seconds for the Castlefield Bowl crowd to join in, ensuring the audience were more than warmed up for James’ arrival.

The rest of the band soon joined Andy on stage for ‘Walk Like You‘ from 2014’s La Petite Mort, before launching into fan favourite ‘How Was It for You‘ and recent single ‘Dear John‘ – the first of four songs from their then-latest album, Girl at the End of the World. Renowned for his fearless connection with audiences, frontman Tim Booth wasted no time immersing himself in the crowd, making his first crowd-surfing excursion of the evening during the exhilarating ‘Catapult‘. It was far from his last, however, as Tim repeatedly placed his trust in the sea of hands below during highlights including ‘Getting Away with It (All Messed Up)‘ and the ever-unifying ‘Sit Down‘.

James have always prided themselves on putting their fans first, and Friday night’s set reflected that spirit. The band treated the Castlefield Bowl crowd to a freshly written song titled ‘Busted’, before throwing in an unexpected setlist change with the trumpet-driven ‘Interrogation‘ – a decision Tim jokingly described as being in “true James style.”

The career-spanning set drew from every era of the band’s catalogue, balancing newer material with beloved classics. Acoustic renditions of ‘She’s a Star’ and ‘Stripmining’ provided some of the evening’s most moving moments. Originally written in response to the devastating 1985 Mexico City earthquake, ‘Stripmining‘ took on an even greater emotional weight as the performance was dedicated to the victims of the Manchester Arena attack, leaving a palpable sense of reflection across the crowd.

From the understated beauty of ‘Five-O’ – accompanied by the evening’s first burst of rain, perfectly timed with Saul Davies’ stunning violin solo – to the utterly euphoric ‘Attention’, a richly layered showcase of the band’s musical chemistry, James delivered every emotion imaginable. The atmosphere reached fever pitch during crowd-pleasing anthems ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Laid’, with thousands of voices singing every word back to the stage. When ‘Sometimes‘ came to an end, the audience refused to let the moment slip away, continuing the chorus long after the band had stopped playing. Rather than bringing the song to a close, James embraced the spontaneous sing-along, joining back in as Tim lost himself in the moment, dancing across the stage and seemingly drawing fresh energy from the deafening response of the crowd.

James brought their homecoming celebration to a triumphant close with an encore packed full of fan favourites. ‘Nothing But Love’ transformed Castlefield Bowl into a sea of swaying arms, before the unmistakable synth-siren riff of ‘Come Home’ sparked one final explosion of energy ahead of the euphoric finale of ‘Laid’. Earlier in the evening, Tim Booth had sung the words “I’m in awe of you” during ‘Of Monsters & Heroes & Men‘. By the end of the night, however, those sentiments felt entirely reversed. James had delivered a homecoming worthy of the occasion, leaving a sold-out Castlefield Bowl united, exhilarated and undoubtedly in awe of one of Britain’s finest live bands.