Jane & I went to see James at Manchester Central on Friday night.
What can I say? Other than it was the best gig I've seen this year by quite a long way 
Athlete were supporting, so no complaints there, although we didn't arrive until 8:00 and so missed a big part of their set. Sorry.
Christmas shopping traffic and office parties being the main culprits for our late arrival, along with Jane's bad back.
Then, just as we were queuing up for a beer, James kicked off their set at a surprisingly early 8:45 - with Tim Booth singing from the disabled viewing platform in the middle of the crowd.
Thereafter followed two-and-a-quarter hours of pure musical joy, interspersed with large chunks of massed-crowd-karaoke. The set list was a real mix from way back until right now, including a song that was so new, the band all had cheat sheets for it , as well as all the old faves - yes they did play "Sit Down".
F***ing awesome night. 
sexymf
Pro 
They were back on top form, weren't they?
We saw them in Bradford and Edinburgh in April and whilst they were good in the former the latter gig was a shambles in my view (worst i've ever seen them in all the years I've been trailing them around); Tim Booth was not relaxed and Saul appeared to be in a foul mood.
But Manchester was all I wanted and hoped for. Mind you they could have finished with Geraldine's Xmas Song since Peter Kay appears on the live CD making them do Lullaby. We were stood right next to the disbaled platform, but it took 30 seconds to realise he was stood next to us (we were watching the screens!!!) Not sure abut the beany though!