Thirty years almost to the day, James will celebrate one of their most legendary gigs with a huge homecoming show at Castlefield Bowl. The band famously played to 30,000 revellers at Alton Towers back on July 4, 1992, in a concert broadcast live with Chris Evans on Radio 1.
Now the Manchester-formed band will bring back the spirit of that night by playing the original setlist in full at the Castlefield gig, part of the ongoing Sounds of the City series. That Alton Towers night created many a ‘I was there’ moments for James fans, and naturally the gig sold out within hours of being announced last year.
It’s a testament to the band that the 30 year old set list includes such massive anthems. The likes of Come Home, Born of Frustration, Say Something, Ring The Bells, Sound and Sit Down as well as continued live favourites like Stutter, Johnny Yen and Hymn From a Village in addition to rare gems like Goalie’s Ball, Live A Love of Life, America and Next Lover which haven’t been performed in decades.
Read more : Foals conquer Castlefield Bowl despite support act Covid chaos
Bassist Jim Glennie remembers of the Alton Towers gig: “It was a crazy day that was nearly defeated by the weather and the gig was all the more celebratory due to the near miss. Come and celebrate 30 years since that iconic day and this time with guaranteed sunshine!”
He may joke about the weather, but early indications are for another near miss - with rain forecast in the day, clearing to bright sunshine by the time the first support acts are due on stage on Saturday night. Here's all the information about the gig you need if you're heading along - including that setlist in full.
Support acts
Music fans will want to get down to Castlefield Bowl early on Saturday night as there's a packed line up of support acts promised ahead of James taking to the stage with the band themselves hailing them "all mavericks in their own right". First up will be Surma, the female-fronted prog rock band founded by Viktorie Surmová and Heri Joensen in 2018.
Comedy star Troy Hawke, known as the Greeter's Guild CEO and fresh from a star turn on This Morning earlier this week, will be popping onto stage at around 6.45pm. Then Scottish indie rockers The Snuts will take to the stage ahead of James.
Stage times
Stage times are always liable to change, so these are set out purely as a guide from the most recent information we've been given. As ever, the best advice is to arrive early to get yourself in the arena in time to enjoy the full show.
Doors open : 5pm
Surma : 5.45pm
Troy Hawke : 6.45pm - 7pm
The Snuts : 7pm - 7.45pm
James : 8.15pm
Curfew : 10:30pm
Setlist
While there's likely to be a few surprises on the night, one thing we do know is the main backbone of the setlist - the songs they played back on July 4, 1992 at Alton Towers. The band have said it might not be necessarily in this order, but these are the songs that were played that night.
Sound
Born of Frustration
Heavens
Hymn From A Village
Goalie's Ball
Maria’s Party
Live A Love Of Life
Come Home
Next Lover
Lose Control
Stripmining
Say Something
Johnny Yen
Ring The Bells
God Only Knows
How Was It For You?
What's The World
America
Seven
Gold Mother
Stutter
Sit Down
Are tickets still available?
Tickets, which are priced at £76.64, have been sold out for some time, but for any late availability check here .
How to get there
Castlefield Bowl is located on Rice Street in Castlefield, postcode M3 4JR, and is just on the edge of the city centre off Deansgate.
There are two entrances for ticket holders - via Duke Street/Castle Street which is also the disabled access entrance, or via Liverpool Road where you access the site down quite a few steps.
By public transport
It's about a five minute walk from Castlefield Bowl to the main line train station at Deansgate. At present, there hasn’t been any further rail strikes announced that may disrupt services.
Here you can also access the Deansgate-Castlefield tram station where there are trams every 12 minutes connecting to all of the main tram routes in the Greater Manchester area.
By car
If you're driving, a number of NCP’s Great Northern car parks are just a short walk away. There are 1,240 spaces in total and prices start from around £3.95 per hour. Use the postcode M3 4EE if using a sat nav.
The NCP Manchester Central next to Bridgewater Hall car park is also nearby, with 643 spaces. For sat navs the postcode is M15 4PS.
The next nearest NCP is on Spinningfields on Quay Street with 680 spaces, where night parking after 5pm is priced at £8.95. For sat navs the postcode is M3 3BE.
Is there food and drink at Castlefield Bowl?
There are a variety of street food stalls and beer tents where you can buy hot food and cold drinks around the site including the ‘food village’ at the Canal Street entrance. Street food includes Wrap Up Burritos and nachos, hot dogs and fries at Grandpa's Sausages and dumplings at Tibetan Kitchen.
Bars will serving alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, plus a gin bar and prosecco bar.
For those unfamiliar with the area, there are also a host of restaurants, bars and pubs along Liverpool Road on the way into Castlefield, as well as the popular bars and restaurants on and around Castle Street in the heart of Castlefield.
Weather forecast
Get your rain mac at the ready - you might just need it - although we could get lucky into Saturday night. Heavy rain looks likely in the day time in Manchester, but should (hopefully) be clearing up by around 5pm.
Best to prepare for all eventualities on this one we reckon. Temperatures are not set to get any higher than 17C, dropping to 15C as night falls over Castlefield.
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