News

We are very pleased to announce that Tim, Jim, and Larry will be taking part in this year’s Manchester Versus Cancer concert, which will take place on 12 December at the Manchester Evening News Arena, and promises to be a very special evening.

The annual event, now in its fourth year, aims to raise money for cancer patients in the region, with The Christie in Manchester being one of its beneficiaries, in addition to local hospices and support groups. Other acts already confirmed for this year’s concert include Andy Rourke (of The Smiths, and founder of Versus Cancer), and Peter Hook (New Order).

This year looks set to be especially memorable, as the artists will be collaborating with the world renowned BBC Philharmonic Orchestra to perform a special one-off set. Tim, Jim, and Larry will be working closely with critically acclaimed composer Joe Duddell on special arrangements of some of their songs.

The band had this to say, “We can’t wait to get started on the arrangements and to work with such an amazing orchestra. The night looks set to be something that neither we, nor our fans will forget, and it’s great to be involved with such an important cause.”

Larry added, “We will be doing about 30 minutes with the 24-piece Orchestra, and will be performing arrangements of some of our back catalogue and possibly a cover version. We may also be joined by one or two Manc music legends on a couple. It’s too early in the process yet to be more specific, but needless to say it will be something very special and unique.”

Tickets for the concert go on sale on today, priced from £32.50 to £40, and are available from Ticketline, See Tickets, and Ticketmaster. Many more acts are due to be announced later this month. For more information on the event visit versuscancer.org.

Larry Gott will be jumping out of a plane with a Red Devil strapped to his back on Thursday the 1st of October in a bid to raise at least £2500 for Disability Snowsport UK. Larry is paying for the jump himself in order to allow all the money raised to go direct to the charity. You can help him meet his target by visiting justgiving.com, or via the sticky post on our forum that tells you more about his brave (but slightly mad) decision.

To coincide with this weekend’s performances at the V Festivals, James are making available a recording of a semi-legendary unreleased song, as a free download through this website.

Not So Strong was first performed during a low-key gig at Hoxton’s Bar and Kitchen in June 2007, and became a regular feature on the setlist throughout the rest of the year. It quickly established itself as a fan favourite, and many of you expressed shock and disappointment when it did not appear on Hey Ma.

Happily, Not So Strong wasn’t consigned to oblivion… Those of you who saw James perform in Europe this summer will have noted its return to the set. The band have just finished recording the song during sessions for the next album, and are distributing this recording online.

Tim says: “The song is about a boxing match. A genre of one unless you count Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Boxer’. I am interested in the paradoxical sense of peace that can arrive at the moment when you feel you have lost everything.”

Simply join the mailing list using the form on the homepage to receive the link to the mp3. Current mailing list members should have already received the link.  If not, let us know.

We do hope you enjoy it.  If you have any problems downloading the file, drop us an email at mp3@wearejames.com and we’ll do our best to help you out.

There is also a lyric sheet for the song, available to view or download.

James will be appearing on the V Stage (Main Stage) at 4:40pm, at both Weston Park and Hylands Park over the weekend.  For further line-up and scheduling information, visit the V website.

The band’s performance at Sonorama Festival in Spain will be broadcast live on Spain’s Radio 3 tonight.  James are headlining the festival and are onstage at 10:30pm local time (9:30pm in the UK, 4:30pm on the East Coast of America). You can listen online at RTVE.es.

Update: You can now listen to the band’s full set at your leisure on the RTVE website, here.

James will be visiting Poland for the first time later this month, where they have been asked to perform at the Coke Live Music Festival in Kraków on Thursday the 20th of August.  The band are second on the bill and will be appearing on the Main Stage at 9pm, preceded by The Streets, and followed by headliners The Killers.

The festival takes place over three days, from the 20th to the 22nd, and tickets range in price from 100 PLN (about €25) for a day ticket, to 220 PLN (about €54) for a weekend ticket with camping.  You can purchase e-tickets from the Alter Art shop; tickets are also available from ticketpro.

We now have an official James Flickr group.  Membership is open to all; please feel free to join and add your favourite James photographs to the pool.  There are already a number of live photos from around the globe in the collection, as well as some wonderful and rather unusual shots of the band taken at the chateau in France whilst recording Hey Ma, which Julian James Ward has kindly added.

We are pleased to announce that due to the first two nights at the Earth Theatre in Thessaloniki selling out, James have added a third concert, and will now be performing on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of July.

Tickets for the additional show on the 18th are on sale now from ticketquest.gr and ticket.gr, and are priced at 40€.

James will be performing at the Rock One Festival, in Portimão, Portugal on Friday the 7th of August 2009.  The festival takes place over four days, from the 5th to the 8th, and tickets are on available from tickline.pt, blueticket.pt, as well as over thirty other ticketing outlets such as FNAC, and Worten chains.

We are pleased to announce that James will be headlining the Sonorama Festvial in Burgos, northern Spain.  The Festival takes place on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of August, and James will be playing on the mainstage (time TBC) on the 15th.

Tickets are on sale now from ticketmaster.es, and cost 50€.