Tour 2000

Bristol, October 25

We somehow managed to get lost while still in Manchester, drove around Bristol for 3 hours looking for accommodation and ended up in Newport. Not as misguided as it sounds, but Bristol must be the most poorly-signposted city in Britain. We never did find a tourist information centre or the YHA Hostel despite seeing about 15 signs for each. Went into a Yates, pub only to discover the tills were broken and ended up in The Griffin, if you know Bristol, you may know where I mean. Nice pub, slightly unusual décor. As we didn’t have tickets for the show, we ended up having to talk a tout outside down to £17.50 from £25.

In the end, the hassle was well worth it as the gig itself was fantastic. We bumped into Mad Karen, a lovely transplanted Mexican who had been on the minibus, and thankfully she offered us a place to crash in Newport, which saved us having to sleep in the car as we couldn’t afford a B&B. The venue itself was quite small, with a floor area and seats in the back as well as a fairly full balcony area. There were loads of kids in the crowd, which was unusually contained and polite for a James gig, yet seemed to be enjoying the show. Very few people left the venue for the bar during the new material anyway. The sound inside the venue was fantastic as well. The set was much the same as the other shows, with “Everyone’s A Junkie” and “Ring the Bells” being the highlights for me, although “Destiny Calling”, “Laid” and “She’s A Star” got the biggest crowd reactions. People were also shouting for “Johnny Yen” and “What For.” Strangely enough, as well, Tim appeared to be drinking a pint on stage, although it could have been apple juice. The lights went during “Say Something” and the band played most of the song with only a massive spotlight. Also, Tim said that “Coffee and Toast” was likely to be a single. John decided to change the lyric off "Coffee and Toast" to say, at the end, over fading music "Or would you simply prefer a good hard shag?" as he reckons that inviting someone home for coffee and toast is a pretty useless chat up line. They've changed the intro to it so it sounds less techno and more rocking. Overall, they maintained the intensity and energy of the first three nights well, and the new stuff just sounds tighter and tighter as they go. Furthermore, the more I hear it, the better it sounds. Can’t wait for Exeter tomorrow! (Justhipper)

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