JAMES announce their March 2019 LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES UK Tour

INTERVIEW: James' bassist JIM GLENNIE discusses new album 'Living in Extraordinary Times.' 1

JAMES announce their March 2019 LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES UK Tour. Starting at Margate Winter Gardens, the tour will visit some of the UK’s best known and most iconic venues, from London’s Royal Albert Hall and Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall, to favourites like the Cambridge Corn Exchange. The band will be performing some of their well-loved classic hits alongside new material from their most recent Top 10 album LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES.

In typically non-conventional JAMES style, the band will be “supporting themselves” in a special thirty-minute acoustic set before their famed and storming electric main show. Singer Tim Booth explains: “For this smaller venue March tour we intend to split the gig up into a 30-ish minute ‘pin drop’, bars closed, acoustic set, followed by an electric set after the interval.”

The band’s latest single, MANY FACES, makes a stand against xenophobia and racism, citing a message of peaceful unity that, “There’s only one human race / Many faces / Everybody belongs here,” written in response to Trump’s racist tweets concerning Mexicans and building a wall. The song instantly began to take on a life of its own with people singing it back to the band from the first times it was performed, as witnessed in Halifax earlier in the year, to recent performances as far flung as Dubai and Australia. The Halifax performance can be seen below:

Tim Booth comments, “We have never had such a reaction to a new song as we have been getting to Many Faces. The sense of inclusion it engenders seems to produce a secular high of unity.”

A fan made video for MANY FACES features snapshots of recognisable faces from political and popular culture, from Theresa May to Kim Kardashian, Malala Yousafzai to Beyonce, Colin Kaepernick to Barack Obama. Alongside these familiar faces sits footage from various news reports and documentaries; the rich and the poor appearing in uncomfortable proximity as makeshift refugee camps are swiftly followed by shots of the Trump Hotel’s plush interior, pointedly followed by a snippet of freshly printed dollars. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJtRmGLNJa4&feature=youtu.be

JAMES have been on the road for the past few months, having embarked on a triumphant sold out UK theatre tour in May before playing at festivals across the UK and Europe over the summer including headline slots at Latitude and Rock in Rio Lisbon. Venturing further afield in November, they played dates across Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, before uniting with fellow heavyweights of British music The Charlatans on a four-date UK arena tour in early December.

INTERVIEW: James’ bassist Jim Glennie discusses new album ‘Living in Extraordinary Times.’

LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES TOUR

MARCH

Wed 06 MARGATE Winter Gardens
Thu 07 BATH Forum
Sat 09 LONDON Royal Albert Hall
Mon 11 CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange
Tue 12 NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall
Thu 14 SOUTHAMPTON O2 Guildhall
Fri 15 STOKE Victoria Hall
Sun 17 NEWCASTLE City Hall
Mon 18 EDINBURGH Usher Hall
Wed 20 CARLISLE Sands Centre
Thu 21 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy
Fri 22 HULL Bonus Arena

Released in August to huge critical acclaim, LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES peaked at #6 on the UK album chart. Produced by Mercury and Brit Award winner Charlie Andrew (whose previous work includes alt-J and Wolf Alice) and rising star Beni Giles, the album followed the hugely successful GIRL AT THE END OF THE WORLD, which debuted at #2 in the UK album chart, second only to Adele – their highest chart entry in almost twenty years.

A fusion of social commentary and personal reflection, LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES covers everything from the current political climate in America in the thunderous HANK, to the lonesome Father’s Day in the heartfelt COMING HOME (PT.2) which features keyboards from long-time collaborator Brian Eno.

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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