After missing his concert last October because apparently I didn’t get used to the fact that around here concerts sell out in 15 minutes, I finally got to see James Bay live. For those of you who don’t know who James Bay is I tell you this: “Hold Back the River”. I was a bit annoyed by this song because when it first came out they used to play it on TV 20 times a day on each channel and that was not OK till the day I actually decided to listen to it. And the rest is history.

Spotify helped me a lot because I think he was one of the first artists I started following and listening to regularly and it was not long after that I learned his songs by heart.

So, about the concert in Stockholm. I took my time and listened to the opening act from somewhere in the back after which I dared to go closer to the stage and wait impatiently for James to start. Around me the audience seemed just as excited and quite diverse. I was expecting to see a lot of 15 years old girls but that was not the case. Maybe his music is appealing to all ages and genders.

The crowd got quite excited when he started playing. Live, his music is not that melancholic and melodic but quite rockish and full of energy. Funny enough this was the first concert ever where I actually knew the lyrics to all the songs and could guess what was next from the first tune he played. To my shame that didn’t happen even at the HIM concert where they did a Black Sabbath cover that literally closed my mouth. But in this case I even sang along to “Proud Mary”. It was quite obvious that the concert was going to end with “Hold Back the River” but he also played other favourites of mine: “Craving” (it was the second song), “If You Ever Want To Be In Love”, “Get Out While You Can” or “Incomplete”, just to mention a few. Given the fact that I listened to his songs so much that I actually know them by heart it means that I kinda like them all, just that some of them I listen to more often.

It was also nice to see people sing along. We actually did some really nice backing vocals, not that James’s vocals need any backing, his voice live sounds really, really good and what he’s doing with those guitars is amazing. Of course he’s got by his side some really talented musicians and all of them seem to be having fun on stage. James was nice enough to talk to the audience and to get us involved into his show as much as he could. He mentioned that last time in Stockholm (yes, the show I missed) he played in front of 5-600 people and that now he was really impressed that we were so many. To tell you the honest truth, we were, Annexet was full.

I have no idea when an hour and a half went by and I got out of the concert venue smiling. I can’t wait to see and hear him again. If anyone has the chance to do that before me, please do, his concert is worth it!