James bamboozle Birmingham’s Utilita Arena: “Love may very well be the answer”

Utilita Arena, Birmingham, 3 April 2026

Cultural icons James have spent the past 44 years perfecting an anthemic, soulful catalogue of hits. They blend a post-punk, Britpop-adjacent sound with a hippie, flower power mentality. This has earned them a considerable reputation. Now they are back, presenting their Love Is The Answer tour to a swelling yet loyal fanbase.  

Listening to James is certainly a unique experience. As guitarist and violinist Saul Davies put it in his interview with The Boar, “I suppose very early James was odd as hell. But as soon as you start to crystallise into things that people can really get their heads around … there’s a simplicity and a directness to that”. 

Watching them live, however, it is clear that that original strangeness has not been fully vanquished. Abstract black and white projections draw the audience’s attention, while a disembodied voice explains how we all live in multiple timelines. The band pounces on our confusion as the hypnotic backing track of ‘Come Home’ fills the arena. This ought to be a quick-fire opener that sets the pace for the rest of their set, but it is perhaps milked more than it should be. The extended riffs make it feel more like a finale. It is nonetheless a certified banger to kick off the evening. Only once this initial hype has died down can we fully gain an impression of the individual band members.  

His moves are loose and not to everyone’s taste, but endlessly endearing

Leading the line is Tim Booth, an unapologetic oddball in a woollen hat who must have studied at the same dance school as Jarvis Cocker – his moves are loose and not to everyone’s taste, but endlessly endearing to reviewers such as myself. Unlike the Pulp singer though, Booth can find himself struggling for room on stage. James are almost a mini orchestra. Their nine official members certainly have all bases covered, especially considering most of them play multiple instruments. 

Amongst the ranks, there are some obvious standouts who might make a case for a larger share of that sum. I had to do a double take when I noticed there were two drummers, both fully kitted out. One would think this automatically makes band cohesion twice as difficult, but the mutual understanding between David Baynton-Power and Debbie Knox-Hewson is frankly mesmeric. Keith Moon eat your heart out! The other hero is our friend Saul Davies, who gives hope to an entirely unexpected breed of aspiring rock god: the violinist.  

His humility is a key part of his stage persona

As for Booth, he is aware of the talent around him and wants to make it clear that he is as much a mouthpiece as a front man. This is something he takes rather literally, producing a purple megaphone to promote Greenpeace through an indecipherable song of the same name. His humility is a key part of his stage persona and, even after all these years, he still seems overawed when the crowd recite the chorus of ‘Sit Down’ back at him. “We fuck around, and we fuck up”, he confides in us. And when you have a huge band and change the setlist every night, ‘fucking up’ seems almost inevitable.  

On this occasion, Booth’s mistake is to get stuck in the crowd at the back of the arena. It starts stylishly, as he exchanges adorable Tarzan-like calls with backing singer Chloe Alper, who briefly takes centre stage on ‘Born of Frustration’. Booth, however, doesn’t account for the numerous barriers and blockades in his way, and the resulting episode – frantically scrambling through the darkest corners of the Utilita Arena whilst yelling to his stunned colleagues to “improvise!” – felt like the ‘Hello Cleveland!’ scene in Spinal Tap.    

Oddly, though, this calamity seems to totally shift the momentum of the show for the better.  If the first half of the gig felt like something of a dress rehearsal, the second half deserves a standing ovation. ‘Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)’ is the song of the night, the crowd bouncing up and down without a care in the world. Equally funky is when the on-screen Booth morphs into various Salvador Dalí-esque caricatures, allowing James to offer their customary psychedelic flavour. By the time the encore rolls around and ‘Sometimes’ reaches its crescendo, we are much relieved that the chaotic haphazardry from earlier in the night has brought about a fulfilling end. It matters little that the Birmingham crowd are not treated to the toxic relationship anthem ‘Laid’.  If anything, singing would rather undermine James’ tour title. Love may very well be the answer, and there is definitely plenty of love and tolerance for a group that has helped keep the famous Manchester music scene alive and kicking.   

★★★☆☆