Review: James come home to Manchester for sell out performace at Co-op Live

‘Ladies and gentlemen, here’s our disease, give me a standing ovation and your sympathies…’

There’s a certain irony in the opening request from a band famed for inspiring a generation to Sit Down on sticky dancefloors up and down the land, but from the first bars of Johnny Yen it was clear James’ performance at the Co-op Arena was going to be something special.

There’s always something beautiful about seeing a band perform on their home turf and the sell-out gig Friday June 14 was no exception.

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Seamlessly merging into the trumpet crescendos of Come Home, the opening song was the icebreaker that had the audience on the balconies out of their seats. By the third song, Life’s a fucking miracle, from their latest album Yummy, front man Tim Booth was off the stage and standing on the crash barriers, crowdsurfing.

The singer had two requests: more dancing on the balconies and mobile phones away. ‘If I come out to play and you stick a phone in my face I’ll go away again. It’s not very friendly’, he said. ‘Play with me.’

And James are a band who love to play with the crowd. During She’s a Star, trumpet player Andy Diagram disappeared off stage, only to appear on the big screens, surrounded by joyful fans at the back of the arena.

And while the crowd remained stoically upright during Sit Down, the chorus of 23,500 voices singing the chorus back at the band was enough to melt the hardest Mancunian heart. ‘Reminds me of 1990’’, Booth swooned, referencing the legendary G-Mex concert of December that year.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, James have continued to produce albums since the late 1980s, and with a back catalogue of 16 to draw from, the 21 song set list could not have been more beautifully curated. Taking the audience on a journey of love, joy and depth, it wove tracks from their latest album Yummy with classics such as Tomorrow and Sometimes.

Clever cinematic graphics enhanced newer songs such as Butterflies and Mobile God which saw Booth’s head take on robotic form as he sang ‘you all belong to me’. There were smiles, tears and euphoria as the band came back on stage for a belting encore, rolling out with Come Home and Beautiful Beaches.

Introducing Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) as ‘our fucking anthem’, guitarist Saul Davis thanked Jim Glennie for starting the band back in 1988, saying they would never have dreamed of playing to an audience that size. Then they finished up with Laid. It was almost two hours of complete joy.

Taking to X from his ice bath after the performance, Booth said what we were all thinking. ‘Holy s**t Manchester, what the f**k was that? That was one of the wildest, and most amazing reactions we’ve ever had. Right up to the top on every single level. Thank you. That was amazing!’

Right back at you Tim.