WORDS NICKY HUGHES / IMAGES PAUL DIXON
10 Years in the making…..The inimitable James Bay rocks back to the Manchester Apollo with his “Up All Night Tour”
It’s Friday night in Manchester! James Bay’s euphoric return to the legendary Manchester Apollo venue.
With over 3000 excited souls vying for the best vantage points, the Apollo was as alive as ever. The music scene in Manchester continues to thrive and the young demographic at Bay’s gig brings hope it always will.
As we approached 8pm, the stage was adorned with arced floods of white light and the crowd ready to welcome the renowned support, Canadian, Leif Vollebekk, a man of legendary musical status in his home country. Leif wove his way through a selection of beautifully crafted, self created songs and a couple of covers with a gentle, yet creative spin.
Leif is man that set a first for this gig goer, as he sat and played the piano whilst simultaneously weaving his magic on the fretboard of his electric guitar! This for a version of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’, a moment that instantly saw a cohesive raising of arms and phones from sound desk forwards.
Leif had set the scene perfectly for Bay’s return to the venue after a decade, playfully drawing in the crowd from the get go, with his rendition of Oasis’s ‘Champagne Supernova’.
Manchester clearly loves James Bay, the Manchester Apollo was absolutely rammed by 9pm when he was all set to take to the stage.
Opening with the title track from Bay’s fourth album, “Changes All The Time“, ” Up All Night’s rock ‘n’ roll, Texan hoedown mashup raised the roof with the singer laying down the gauntlet, ‘It was 10 years ago that I last played this room, I remember three things, it was beautiful, the people were gorgeous and they sang so loud Manchester, they sang so loud. I wonder on this Friday night if you’ve got a scratch on them.”
Not to be outdone, needless to say, the crowd made a promise they were definitely going to keep.
Then followed a series of upbeat crowd pleasers, “If You Ever Want To Be In Love”, “Sunshine In The Room” and the unforgettable, “Us”, all performed with faultless vocals and outstanding support from Bay’s superb four piece band.
“Let It Go” from Bay’s debut album Chaos and the Calm provided the perfect opportunity for him to show off his guitar skills, a thread that would continue throughout the evening with the man himself even joking, “This is just one big massive excuse for me to play guitar solos.”
“Speed Limit” saw a return to the stage for supporting legend, Leif, with the pair’s vocals in such perfect harmony and with the audience still firmly in the palm of Bay’s hand. Bay had paid Leif a huge compliment prior to the duet by recognizing to the crowd that he was a huge fan of Leif’s work and Leif was in inspiration and influence on his work. He also commented “Tonight [Manchester] you got down nice and early, you did a fine thing, you did a good thing because it means you got to see the fantastic Leif Vollebekk”. To this seasoned gig goer it was a credit to the crowd that this was recognised, it was a joy to see the venue a good 90% full and respectful of Leif and his work.
The band then left the stage for Bay to deliver the first few bars of a gorgeous, slightly haunting version of the Elvis classic, “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, before segueing beautifully into another crowd favourite, “Scars”. Bay delivered the much loved track in melodic hushed tones to begin with, before building gradually into an almost euphoric and deafening crescendo of guitar genius and abject delight from the audience.
“Easy Distraction” was another fantastic offering from Bay’s new album, and an hour in to the gig, there was no let up in Bay’s energy levels. He threw his all into what was his 12th song of the night, and continued to take the crowd, who were reveling in the new songs as much as the old, along for the ride.
There’s no denying that James Bay is an incredibly talented artist and he’s on an exciting journey with fans who clearly adore him. One girl told me “he’s a poet, include that in your review”. Well, that certainly seemed to be the consensus in Manchester tonight, so I have.
There’s so much respect for Bay’s music and adoration for him and his lyrics, but a James Bay gig is also a damn good Friday night out.
Bay’s final words before the encore were: “Let’s try, let’s try our best to not make it another 10 years until we do this again in this room.”
Set List
1. Up All Night
2. Give Me The Reason
3. If You Ever Want To Be In Love
4. Sunshine In The Room
5. Us
6. Let It Go
7. Speed Limit
8. Wild Love
9. Scars
10. Peer Pressure
11. Pink Lemonade
12. Easy Direction
13. Wanderlust
14. Best Fake Smile
Encore
15. Hope
16. Dogfight
17. Hold Back The River
FOLLOW JAMES BAY
FOLLOW LEIF VOLLEBEKK
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
