Face Of Cheam

Saw James on Thursday night. I have to say they were disappointing. When I saw them several years ago they did most of their (to be released) ‘Pleased To Meet You’ album and despite not knowing much of the set they were awesome. I then saw them on their farewell tour seven years ago where they did a hits set and were again pretty good. However, the show at Brixton despite starting well with a rousing ‘Come Home’ the middle section with two new songs and a couple of obscure tracks lost me. When they did get back to the hits they were played with little passion and they murdered ‘tomorrow’ starting it twice and seemingly out of time. ‘Sit Down’ was played a little slower than the record and again sounded a poor cover version. At least the encore, they came back with a great version of ‘Laid’ but alas it was too late and in my opinion they had already been beaten. Interestingly, Tim Booth, now looks like Ned Flanders version of the devil with his tache and pointy goatee!
The support came from The Twang. Having heard good things from them I entered the Academy very early and it was deserted. Managed to get the equivalent of second row for them and I was impressed. A funny line up, they had two singers, one more of a rapper, the other a singer who chain smokes as much as Paul Heaton. The sound was reminiscent of The Happy Mondays or a guitary version of The Streets. Speaking in a scouse accent the rapper-singer commented on how big the venue was and swore a lot. I will be looking for their album once its out.

Setlist : Come Home, Waltzing Along, Ring The Bells, Hymn From A Village, Who Are You?, Chameleon, Play Dead, Chain Mail, Out To Get You, Five-O, Upside / Downside, Getting Away With It (All Messed Up), Say Something, Johnny Yen, Tomorrow, Sit Down //// Gold Mother, Laid, Sometimes //// She's A Star