James: Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto on 30/09/2010
I got to see James for the second time at the end of September. Unable to find any regulations about cameras, I brought mine in:
[flickr id="5041227962" thumbnail="medium" align="left"]
[flickr id="5040601059" thumbnail="medium" align="left"]
[flickr id="5041193282" thumbnail="medium" align="left"]
[flickr id="5041175572" thumbnail="medium" align="left"]
I was done shooting anyway, but unfortunately security accosted me and made me put the camera away because it had “removable lenses.” Apparently having a sub-SLR isn’t enough any longer. The rest of the pictures I took are here.
It was unfortunate because a bunch of friends happened to get invited to dance on the stage during Laid (not my video):
The show was outstanding. It started out with a simple, stripped down version of Sit Down (official, but non-album version video), with Tim Booth walking down the centre aisle from the back to the stage. When I last saw them at The Phoenix two years ago, they just started with a double-speed version of Born of Frustration (nonsensical fan video), which was unfortunate because it’s my favourite track by them. Still, at least I got to hear it once as it was the only time I got to see it live: they skipped it this time around.
Despite that minor setback, the show was phenomenal. They played a few new tracks, but lots of favourites such as Ring The Bells, Seven, Getting Away With It, Tomorrow, Stutter, Say Something, Sound, Out To Get You and Sometimes. Their newer tracks, Dust Motes, Crazy, It’s Hot, Porcupine and Tell Her I Said So went over just fine considering how quiet they were to begin with.
The only shame was that the crowd went nuts after their encore, but that was it. It almost seemed as if the band would come back with the lights dimming again, but disappointingly the venue’s piped music came on and the crew started disassembling the band’s gear. On their blog they commented:
The show in Toronto was amazing. The audience clapped forever, calling for endless encores. Too bad there was a curfew…
Mr. Booth commented on Twitter:
The manager at the toronto venue said he hadn’t seen any audience make such a noise in 10 years of owning clubs.
Maybe next time they’ll choose a better venue. The Queen Elizabeth Theatre wasn’t the worst place I’ve seen a show, but it inhibited the band. Considering it was seated, no one I knew there complained about their view of the band, and the sound, no pun intended. That said, the assigned seating really impeded the energy. People really just want to be able to dance and/or make fools of themselves.
Other takes, as I discover them:
BlogTO (great photos)
LiveInLimbo.com (also great photos)