James
James were formed in Manchester in the early 1980’s and were one of the first groups to be given the aspirational title of “the next Smiths”. Formed almost a decade before they came to prominence as one of the founding cornerstones of the ‘Madchester’ movement of the early nineties, they had already released two albums before the mainstream breakthrough album “Gold Mother” in 1990. James went on to become one of the most popular folk/acoustic bands of the decade with huge hits that became summertime anthems, including “Sit Down”, and “Laid”. Their story in the 1980s with moves from label to label, and failed album launches followed by poor sales make their success in the 1990s even more surprising. The band had to take their destiny into their own control at one point and even self funded a record, demonstrating their self belief at the very least. The breakthrough finally happened though and the 90s were a flurry of releases including “Gold Mother”, “Seven”, “Laid”, “Wah Wah”, “Whiplash” and “Millionaires” – all of which were released in that one decade, making them amongst the most prolific groups of their generation. The success of these albums overshadowed their subsequent album releases in the 2000s, although their Compilation album released the coveted UK Album number one spot, and sold over 150,000 copies. The band performed what was meant to be their final live show at the MEN arena in Manchester in December 2001, and were joined on stage by both the super producer Brian Eno (responsible for production on a few of their albums) and former band mates Larry Gott and Andy Diagram. The show was later released as both a DVD and CD, and was indeed their last performance – until the reunion tour in 2007. You can see James live on stage with Seatwave.com, where we have James Tickets to all their gigs in the UK. Seatwave.com are Europe’s largest fan to fan ticket exchange.