Review: James at Red Hill Auditorium

James at Red Hill Auditorium
w/ Razorlight
Thursday, October 8, 2026

The schizophrenic spring weather dealt us an increasingly rare cold and rainy night at Red Hill on Thursday night to greet legendary Manchester troubadours James. The Northerners would not have been bothered by the minor squall, and it didn’t stop frontman Tim Booth spending a couple of songs singing in the rain amongst the crowd in solidarity. But any chill in the night was dissipated by the incredible warmth and uplifting, joyous performance of the veteran band who are still at the top of the game.

A brilliant, renowned live act, with a huge back catalogue of great songs dating back to the 80s, James have to be one of the best, most enduring and underrated groups of all time, though their fans appreciate them. Once you’ve seen them live, you understand. Despite being active across five decades, the band never made it to Australia till 2016! This is now their third visit, and bless them for making the journey to Perth, despite it perhaps not being a financially wise option for many bands these days (let alone with nine members!). Shouts out to all those who made the trek up to Red Hill to represent on this wintery Thursday eve. If we don’t show up for the bands that do grace us with their presence, less will make the effort.

James did their best to make it well and truly worthwhile. Just pure, musical brilliance. This is a band that have been playing together for 40 odd years and have a certain magic and synergy where they can create something special and unique with every performance, not to mention a stellar back catalogue of hits.

As a pretty sweet added bonus, James brought along fellow luminaries and countrymen Razorlight. The energetic pop/rock group exploded onto the scene in the naughties when sharp angular guitar riffs and even sharper outfits were all the rage. Led by the charismatic Johnny Borrell, they are in the midst of a massive world tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of their self-titled album, and it was their first Australian tour in over 15 years.

In 2021 Borrell reformed the original Razorlight lineup from their peak years, who had parted ways in 2009. The classic English–Swede four-piece comprised Borrell on guitar and vocals with fellow Brit Andy Burrows on drums, alongside Swedish guitarists Carl Dalemo on bass and the wonderfully named Björn Ågren (his actual birth name) on lead.

The weather had been pretty ominous, with a few downpours up to that point catching the early crowd and those who took advantage of the bus transport from various pubs around town, but just as Razorlight started, the rain stopped!

While they were never really as big here as in the UK, they were a bit of an ‘It band’ in the 2000s London scene, as much in part to their cool, catchy pop-rock songs as Borrell’s outspoken rock ‘n’ roll antics, exploits and debauchery. Alongside other big names such as Amy Winehouse, Noel Fielding, and Liam Gallagher, Borrell was a Camden Town scenester. He had a penchant for white outfits and cowboy boots and famously got into a fight with Burrows at The Hawley Arms. At one point he had a brief relationship with Kirsten Dunst, which ended in part due to him riding his vintage motorcycle through the house they shared in London during a wild party. While in the past his cool confidence has bordered on an arrogance that made him supremely slappable, these days the band seem more mature, rejuvenated and excited to be playing their old songs together again. It was definitely a great way to start the night.

Their hit In The Morning was an early highlight and still sounds fresh. One of their best songs taken from their breakthrough self-titled sophomore record. It was a wise choice to get things fired up, with its brilliant outro as Borrell repeats “Are you really gonna do it this time?” with Burrows providing backing vocals and the band in full flight.

Their brand of indie rock definitely leans hard into the pop element but took cues from other great rock revival bands of the era like The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, The Cribs and The Libertines. While they were never really as good as them, they still have some great tunes, a sound distinct of that heady era and live, they are in their element.

While they’re touring the anniversary of their self-titled record, tonight’s set comprised a great selection of songs from across their career, right up to the latest new single Sugar High from last year. It’s a song that sounds very Razorlight but also shows some evolution in their sound.

They also pulled some tracks from their 2004 debut Up All Night, such as Stumble and Fall, Don’t Go Back To Dalston and the shimmering brilliance of hit single Golden Touch, which was a definite highlight. It was obvious they had some fans in the crowd, as Borrell cut the music and the crowd sang the hook, “They’ll never do the things that they wish that they could do so well.” He might be a bit of a poncey poser sometimes, but he always brings the rock star energy… and the abs. Johnny’s been in the gym and took his off his shirt, much to the delight of some of the ladies.

The big final track from their debut, Somewhere Else, could have been a finale, but then Borrell introduced the next track, “This song is called Good Night, so goodnight!” leading everyone to think it was the final track. Grumbles were heard, but what about the one big hit that had been omitted?! Then, as the song finished, a keyboardist appeared onstage, and the gentle, melodic intro to America raised huge cheers from the crowd. There was a joyous singalong to the “Oh Oh Oh, Oh!” part, though sadly the ominous chorus still rings true: “There’s trouble in America.”

But as fun and energetic as Razorlight were, this was James’ night, and from the outset they took things to another level. Their reputation as a live act precedes itself. For those having their first James experience (such as this lucky reviewer here) the expectations were high, but they surpassed even those. As a band who started almost 45 years ago, they obviously have a deep repertoire to call upon. Like Razorlight, James were also doing an album tour for their breakthrough fifth album, Laid. They would end up playing most songs from the record, but not in any order, as well as playing a very generous selection of tracks from across their storied career, right up to their 18th LP, 2024’s huge comeback effort Yummy, which hit number one on the UK charts, and a brilliant new track.

James are an incredible collective of musicians fronted by the powerhouse Tim Booth. At 66 he is still physically and vocally in incredibly good shape and retains a commanding presence onstage, or in the crowd, as it were!

The band is currently a nine-piece lineup comprising mostly the original members who’ve been with the band since the 80s. Talented multi-instrumentalists, they give the band an amazing depth and lush, layered live sound, moving between multiple guitars, keyboards, violin, trumpet, percussion and two drumkits. The two recent additions, Deborah Knox-Hewson and Chole Alper, both provide backing vocals and percussion, fleshing out the sound.

Starting off with the slow, moody sounds of Dream Thrum, which saw Booth immediately throw himself into his unique, trademark dancing that sees him flailing about onstage in a trance-like state, as much a performance as it is channelling sometimes deep within.

“Razorlight have all these rock songs to warm you up, but James is more mellow,” he said in between songs. This may have been true for some of the early songs in the set, but far from the epic highs later on when the band were locked in, taking flight.

It was a well-paced and sequenced set, taking their time to get into the groove with three more tracks from Laid, including the emotive One Of The Three, featuring a gorgeous three-part harmony, and Five-O, which took things up a level with some smooth lead guitar work that led into some soaring trumpet. Low Low Low saw Booth singing through a megaphone to create the manic energy of that track. At times the epic layered sounds and harmonies of some tracks were reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, but one thing that’s hard to do with James is pin them down, as they are so eclectic and varied and continue to evolve.

They pulled out one of their first big hits with the soaring She’s A Star. Booth’s voice is incredibly strong, clear, melodic and powerful, hitting the high notes perfectly, and has a deep emotional resonance.

Way Over Your Head was the first of the newer material, the Yummy track sounding even better live with more beautiful harmonies and heartfelt lyrics: “In a hole way over, way over your head. In need of a friend, to come ’round and take you to bed.”

Booth removed his beanie to reveal his immaculately shaved head. Along with his goatee, it’s such a different look to his shaggy haired, clean shaven youth. Now he looks less Morrissey and more Kingsley (Ben) in Sexy Beast. But damn, does the man have some pipes and oozes charisma like some mystical shaman.

James are one of those bands that you forget how many great songs they have until you hear them, one after another. Say Something was another case in point. Born Of Frustration saw Booth venture out into the crowd with his cordless mic, despite the rain that had started again, it could not dampen the spirits of the joyous crowd. He slowly made his way out and around the crowd and up the steps in his fur coat, embracing people along the way, without missing a beat. Seeing him up close making the shrilling war-cry sound from the track, where he rapidly covers/uncovers his mouth while singing, was impressive.

He eventually made his way back onto stage, after a quick change into some dry clothes, looking luxurious in his fresh fur coat and beanie, he empathised, “I have the luxury of a costume change, and you don’t.”

Knuckle Too Far changed up the pace, proving some mellow, tripped-out guitar grooves that echoed into the night. There was some epic electric violin and percussive rhythms. Booth talked about the first time he went on an ayahuasca journey, during a time when he was looking for God… and ended up seeing God in a millipede. He’s a deeply spiritual person who practices transcendental meditation and was also involved in a cult for a while during his searching. There was a recent documentary made about the incredible story of the band over the years, the highs and the lows, called Getting Away With It, which sounds really interesting. However, it hasn’t been released in Australia yet.

After over an hour and a half of incredible, diverse music and some huge songs, they could have left it there, but they hadn’t even played five of their best songs! Songs that are up there with the best of any 90s songs by one-word named bands. They finished the set with arguably their best, a definite highlight of the night, Sometimes. The lush rhythms of four strummed guitars set the backdrop for Booth to deliver one of his greatest melodic choruses, which he does with a passion as if it was written yesterday, “Sometimes… when I look deep into your eyes I swear I can see your soul.” And the whole auditorium sang along into the night sky.

Returning for an encore, he boldly announced they would be playing a new song called Nantucket. While many were thinking they were running out of time to hear some of their other classics, the new song proved to be an epic tune! A truly triumphant piece with soaring synths and even cello that shows the band are still at the top of their game.

Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) was another welcome big tune from their 2001 album Pleased To Meet You. And of course they had to play the massive album title track Laid, their breakthrough hit. It’s their one song that you can play to people who don’t know James, and then they’ll say “Ohhh that song!” It’s played on commercial radio, and even in shopping centres, despite that risqué lyric. And what a song it is. Just a jubilant slice of uplifting, melodic glory with lots of drum rolls. Booth even let the crowd sing the first par before coming in to sing it again.

And then that was it. It was hard to fault the set. So many great songs, and they can’t play them all, but many were still hoping for two of their biggest hits, Sit Down and Come Home. In fact, some of the crowd didn’t leave and hung around singing the chorus of Sit Down, hoping maybe for a miraculous second encore. But alas, that was all folks. The crowd that slowly filtered out of the venue were absolutely buzzing and beaming, with many comments overheard about how awesome that was. It was a truly epic performance from an amazing and unique band who have remained consistent and relevant over five decades. May they endure for a couple more and visit us again soon. If they do, do not miss them. What a band.

ALFRED GORMAN

Photos by Linda Dunjey