By Emma Smith
Cover Photo: @ribenaballerina on Instagram
Photo: @ribenaballerina on Instagram
James Marriott returned to Leeds on 25th January as part of his second headline tour promoting his album Are We There Yet?. LSTV previously interviewed him at Live at Leeds in the park in 2023, so it was a joy to see him return not only to Leeds but to see him perform in Stylus, only a short trip down the stairs from the LSTV office.
James opened the set with 'Over My Head' with very powerful vocals so it was a shock when after the song he started speaking with a very croaky voice. The constant shouting and vocal strain during the previous shows, had clearly taken a huge toll on his voice, luckily the whole audience was very sympathetic of James, and absolutely screamed through every song which really made an amazing atmosphere for the whole show. One of the band members, Jono, was also a big help to James with the vocals. Which I think contributed to James’ damaged voice to go unnoticed during the songs.
One of the most memorable moments of the concert for me was the moment when James started crying during 'In Between' the whole crowd was already starting to get emotional during this song, so it was very moving for James to feel emotional himself. At this point, I remember saying “he’s really going through it” because this was clearly his most difficult show of the tour, so it wasn’t a surprise when it was announced the next day that the next 3 shows had been postponed. It was very uplifting when he later said that the only reason he was on stage that night, was because of his amazing band, they really carried the show.
Overall, I had a great night and I cannot wait till the next time James and his band perform in Leeds.
James Marriott will be performing at Leeds Festival 2024 and 'Are We There Yet?', his debut album, is available on all platforms now.