Jamie T - Nottingham University Live Review

Jamie T. & The Maccabees
Nottingham University
31st January 2007.
Live Review

What was more or less going to be a sell out especially with the fact that no one is bothered about watching Arsenal kids take on Spurs in the semi finals of the lesser cup? Jamie T or his touring team get something of an ace card by announcing that The Maccabees as main support.

The Maccabees take to the stage and the venue already seems full, people have flocked to see these guys as well as Jamie T. The band appear and this what looks like a twelve year old blasts out this amazing distinctive voice. Not dissimilar to Tom Smith from The Editors, it has to be witnessed to be believed. They play what to me was not at all a support acts set, with an eleven-track set and showcasing four new songs. They obviously play X Ray and The Maccabees just look right at home playing in front of an even more filling venues. One of the best things about The Maccabees is that one of their best and well-loved songs is about a wave machine!! Honestly Latchmere is amazing and when you hear Orlando Weeks sing the words "Latchmere's got a waaaavveee maaaachhhine" it is like pure poetry in motion. So naturally The Maccabees want be remembered and not just known as a support to Jamie T, so naturally the finish off like a fireworks display flying through Precious Time, First Love and the finish where the madness is continued Lego.

Now it is to the main event a young bloke straight out of the hood that is Wimbledon, OK then it is not a hood and with the last name Treays you understand why Jamie calls himself Jamie T. So anyway Jamie comes to one of well the lesser-known venues at Nottingham, but once you find out that they sell two pint sized glasses then Nottingham Trent University should be put onto the map. After the release of Jamie T's new album he now allegedly has a bit more to back him up (although to be fair 90% of these tracks have been floating around as demos. Anyway onto the job in hand and Jamie T starts the night off in exactly the same way as the album with Brand New Bass Guitar which is one of those songs that is not his best, but enough to get the Midlands crowed up for a fun filled sprint of a night. Why sprint? You ask, it is simple really; Jamie T does not fuck around and talk about each song. He gets his head down and does what he does best which is entertain and straight into Operation we go. Before you know it he has already go into Ike N Tina which is such a quality clever written track that surely should be released as a single! Jamie T does bring another dimension to his music when he has a full band behind him and songs like Northern Line and Peacemaker only benefit from this so much more. The pinnacle point of the night was Back In The Game, because it was just him. There is one song that needs to left alone and kept simple so to speak and this is it. Naturally all the singles were played If You Got The Money, Shelia and finishing the whole night with of course Calm Down Dearest, but blink and you might miss something. This was an absolute highly charged set.

Encore, come on there is always an encore, but to be fair everyone would not of minded that much if he didn't come back because they have been entertained rather than watching that Premiership cup crap on Sky. No matter because Jamie T is back on the stage and gets his head down and starts bellowing out Livin Wiv Betty in that distinctive vocal style that he owns. Then his cover of A New England and the only disappointing thing about this is that is not on the record, but what ya gonna do???
Now the night is nearly over and while you can see double after drinking 2 pint sized glasses all night, Jamie T tricks you somewhat because now you think that you can hear double! Yes he plays Calm Down Dearest again, but what is just over a three-minute track that on this version lasts for about a minute and half. Pow Jamie T has left the building.

4/5

Mark Moore