Buoyed by their first No. 1 U.K. album in 26 years, veteran rock outfit James will perform their beloved 1993 album Laid in its entirety for the first time on a fall North American tour, kicking off Sept. 3 in Atlanta. The trek will wind its way west before wrapping Oct. 5 in Vancouver.
Sprinkled among the itinerary are appearances at Riot Fest in Chicago on Sept. 20 and Eddie Vedder’s Ohana festival in Dana Point, Ca., on Sept. 28, although Laid will not be played in full at those shows. Click here for tickets.
More from Spin:
- Ghost Smash Records With ‘SKELETÁ’ Debut
- From Notebooks to New Songs: Suzanne Vega’s Creative Compost
- Goose’s Close Encounters
Having risen to fame in England’s vibrant post-punk scene in the late ’80s and early ’90s, James crowned a career replete with numerous U.K. chart-toppers with Laid‘s title track, which became their U.S. breakthrough single. The song was a smash at Modern Rock radio and has been streamed nearly 224 million times to date on Spotify.
“We’re playing to the biggest and youngest audiences we’ve ever played to,” James frontman Tim Booth told SPIN last year about the band’s recent resurgence, which has seen “Laid” appear in The Bear and James perform at the U.K.’s hallowed Glastonbury Festival. “We’re having more success now than we ever did in the ‘90s, but it’s different because we’re older and because we don’t get played on commercial or mainstream radio. So, it’s kind of undercover, but we’re having the best time. We’re a nine-piece band now. These two amazing women joined us five years ago and they’ve really added a lot and helped to balance us in ways we didn’t know we were unbalanced. We’re very joyful live now. We still have some of that ‘tortured artist’ edge that came from watching Patti or Iggy Pop, but we’re having more fun than we’ve ever had. You know, we’re a fucking weird band. We’ve got trumpet player and we’ve got a guitar player who’s a brilliant violinist. We’ve got another guitar player who’s a brilliant cello player. You don’t form a nine-piece and think you’re going to make a lot of money. It’s never been about that.”
Here are James’ tour dates:
Wednesday, September 3rd – Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Thursday, September 4th – Cannery – Nashville, TN
Saturday, September 6th – Lincoln Theatre – Washington, DC
Sunday, September 7th – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, September 9th – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
Wednesday, September 10th – Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn, NY
Sunday, September 14th – Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Toronto, ON
Monday, September 15th – Beanfield Theatre – Montreal, QC
Wednesday, September 17th – Globe Iron – Cleveland, OH
Thursday, September 18th – Majestic Theatre – Detroit, MI
Saturday, September 20th – Riot Fest* – Chicago, IL
Sunday, September 21st – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
Tuesday, September 23rd – Boulder Theatre – Boulder, CO
Thursday, September 25th – Commonwealth – Salt Lake City, UT
Saturday, September 27th – The Bellwether – Los Angeles, CA
Sunday, September 28th – Ohana Festival* – Dana Point, CA
Tuesday, September 30th – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
Thursday, October 2nd – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR
Saturday, October 4th – The Showbox – Seattle, WA
Sunday, October 5th – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
