BY KYLE GUSTAFSON

On paper, James seems like the perfect highly successful, multi-platinum band.  They have a Manchester heritage, U2's stadium rock bombast, sincereity a la Coldplay and inventive percussive rhythms of bands like Talking Heads.  Something for everyone if you will.  So why then have they been relegated to a mere footnote in 90's rock lore? Thursday night's show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. provided more questions than answers, as the displayed the confidence and moxy of their most successful peers.

"Good evening, we're called Bruce Springsteen," lead singer Tim Booth, looking a bit daft in a very baggy pinstriped suit, told the crowd before the night's first song, the new track "Oh My Heart."  In theory, James is touring behind their sublime new disc Hey Ma, but after the band played "Ring The Bells" off of 1992's Seven, it was clear the crowd was there to hear all of their old favorites.  

A few songs into the set, Booth remarked that the band was unsure "what music of ours you will know" and that they had a hard time picking out songs for the set. They included five songs off of Laid, their most popular record, along with three from Seven and five from Hey Ma. The newer stuff was played early, helping the band side-step that age old problem that older acts with rich histories have about touring behind new material. It certainly helped that the songs off of Hey Ma stand up to the band's best. The soft-loud dynamic of "Bubbles" was enthralling, while the chorus of the new album's title track was transformed into a raucous crowd sing along, one of the many on the night. 

Speaking of sing-alongs, the crowd did their part on the night as well.  During "Sometimes (Lester Piggot)", Booth let the crowd take over the chorus at the end of the song, only the crowd wasn't ready for the song to end.  They kept singing the chorus for a good three or four minutes after the band finished. After exchanging quizzical looks and huge grins, the band, one by one, started playing the song again until Booth finally joined back in and eventually brought the song to a proper end.  It was one of the most spontaneous and rewarding concert experiences I have ever been a part of. They immediately followed with "Laid", which, as you might imagine, went over like gangbusters.

Photo by Kyle Gustafson