James Blunt opens up tour with Brighton concert

JAMES BLUNT + GAVIN JAMES – BRIGHTON CENTRE 3.2.22

Singer songwriter James Blunt rolled into town tonight (well he did used to be a tank commander in the army) on the first night of his 10-date UK arena tour starting here at the Brighton Centre.

Six albums down he was promoting his new album ‘The Stars Beneath My Feet (2004-2021)’, basically a compilation album with a few new tracks added including ‘Adrenaline’, the latest single that has been on heavy rotation on Radio 2 for the last few weeks.

Support tonight came from Irish singer songwriter Gavin James who really impressed with his nine-song set. Think a less folky Passenger and you won’t be too far away from his musical style. Plenty of between song chat and some uplifting tunes got the crowd out of their seats and dancing. I was really impressed with his final song of the night ‘Hearts On Fire’, a really uplifting anthemic number. I think great things await this rising singer songwriter.

Find out more HERE.

James Blunt and his band came on at 8 45pm, a completely dark stage, the sound of car engines, old music hall tunes and a 10 to 1 countdown booming from the PA. The screens then lifted to reveal the band and the show was off and running, the stage now lit with beautiful red lights.

He started with ‘Breathe’ from his ‘Moon Landing’ album, then launched into ‘Wisemen’, running around the stage, playing an acoustic guitar like a man possessed, which got the capacity crowd out of their seats and singing along to every word and it was only song two. The lighting and sound tonight were spot on and the band were brilliant. A particular mention goes to piano/keyboard player Chris Pemberton, who I have seen many times doing the same brilliant job for John Grant, who was fantastic as always.

After playing his latest single ‘Adrenaline’, he talked about his last Brighton gig and how he had managed to get Ed Sheeran to come on stage that night – Read the Brighton and Hove News review of that night HERE.

He apologised for his lack of superstar guests on tonight’s bill. He had tried phoning some of his musical superstar mates, but none were available he said with a hint of irony. This is something he is very good at if you follow his Twitter account. He then went on to say they could have started the world tour in Mexico City, Rio or a host of other exotic destinations, but chose Brighton as the drummer Karl Brazil loves both seagulls and fish and chips.

Two surprising songs played during the set tonight were Slade’s 70s classic ‘Cos I Luv You’ which was played towards the end of the set – I thought it sounded great – and the first song of his encore The Pixies ‘Where Is My Mind?’, which is probably my favourite Pixies song and Blunt did a great version. Who would have thought James Blunt would be a fan of Boston’s finest indie rockers!

Before playing crowd favourite ‘You’re Beautiful’, he donned a full military gas mask and jumped off the stage and ran around the crowd hugging and shaking hands with his loyal fans. This was a nice touch, though the gas mask did make him look quite scary, but hey he has a year’s world tour starting so covid safety is something he has to take seriously.

He finished the main set with a cover of the Robin Schulz (German DJ) track ‘OK’, which had the entire audience up and dancing.

The encore started with the above-mentioned ‘Where Is My Mind?’, which was followed by two crowd favourites ‘Bonfire Heart’ and ‘1973’ which even got me singing along.

He left the stage to rapturous applause and as I walked up West Street on my way home I could hear a lot of James Blunt songs being sung on the streets of Brighton by fellow gig goers. A great night of music was had by all.

Band Members:
James Blunt – vocals, guitar, piano
Ben Castle – guitar
Karl Brazil – drums
Malcolm Moore – bass
Chris Pemberton – piano/keyboards

James Blunt setlist:
‘Breathe’
‘Wisemen’
‘Carry You Home’
‘Adrenaline’
‘The Greatest’
‘Goodbye My Lover’
‘High’
‘Smoke Signals’
‘I Really Want You’
‘Love Under Pressure’
‘Postcards’
‘So Long, Jimmy’
‘Same Mistake’
‘Monsters’
‘Coz I Luv You’ (Slade cover)
‘You’re Beautiful’
‘Stay The Night’
‘OK’ (Robin Schulz cover)
(encore)
‘Where Is My Mind?’ (Pixies cover)
‘Bonfire Heart’
‘1973’

Further information can be found at www.jamesblunt.com