★★★★☆
Willie J Healey. Hak Baker. Biig Piig. Kojey Radical. IDLES. It’s enough in its own right to bring a sizable crowd to North London’s Finsbury Park; a run of support acts so commendable in fact that it could almost risk overshadowing the main event. Yet longtime rabble-rouser Jamie T ensured he wasn’t upstaged at the 50,000-capacity outdoor venue, as he dipped into his assortment of old-time bangers and newly-penned favourites.
In the run-up to the event, you could tell the occasion meant more to the Wimbledon-born singer-songwriter than your average gig; not least by the fact he’d invited mum and dad down (remarkably this would be just the third show his parents have attended), but by the release two days prior of ‘Hippodrome’. The single is a typically breezy Jamie T number, nostalgic and tributary to his beloved hometown “South of the river.”
This new track would kick-off proceedings, getting its live debut in the process, and chimed with the montage of South London visuals played out on the screen behind the singer, from the deer of Richmond Park to the shuffling shoppers leaving Wimbledon station. And if you were in any doubt of the homage this show would provide to these leafy parts of London, Jamie T was even donning the kit of his local AFC Wimbledon at one stage.
Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett. Opening acts included the likes of Biig Piig…
… and Kojey Radical. Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.
Whilst a rowdiness and accompanying mosh pits were inevitably part of the proceedings, Jamie T has more than a few sides to his game, typified by the stirring, at-times soft Carry On The Grudge opener ‘Limits Lie’ being played before Panic Prevention headbanger ‘Operation’.
This light-and-shade approach did the trick. The whole show was a chance to let spirits fly – amid the intermittent football chant calls of “Jamie, Jamie, Jamie fucking T” – but there were also more downbeat periods to soak it all in, including the likes of later tune ‘St. George Wharf Tower’, which appeared to arrive on queue with light fading to dark.
Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett
No one seemed to revel in the moment more than Jamie T himself, at one point framing the event as the ultimate culmination of his five album-deep output. “We did everything the right way, so it’s a real proud moment to have you all here,” he told the crowd. “And if I say it myself, we fucking deserve it. That’s why we’re still alive.”
The underlying implication of his words were that he’s an artist who – to coin a bit of PR speak – has stayed true to himself. He might have received some degree of flack over the years, in large part for his safe suburban roots being at odds with his geezer shtick, but you don’t endure as well as he has for a decade-and-a-half without sticking to your creative guns.
The similar degree of verve between ‘90s Cars’, taken from last year’s Theory Of Whatever, and 2009 sophomore album track ‘Spider’s Web’ proved a case in point on this occasion. And like a cold can of whatever the appropriately inebriated sections of the crowd were drinking, debut album classic ‘If You Got The Money’ went down so easily you fancied another – and another, and another.
Of course, for a show of this size, the encore would arrive, starting with aptly titled ‘Back In The Game’. Jamie T’s cockney-ish twang would ring out in the North London sky before he applied the old adage of saving your best till last.
Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett
Following an emphatic rendition of ‘Sheila’ – where the crowd filled in the sampled cries of “London” – Jamie would bring out old pal and teacher Joe Bispham, who he said had encouraged him to go into music in the first place, as well as The Maccabees guitarist Hugo White. “This is a family affair tonight,” the singer exclaimed.
For many of us who grew up on a partial diet of Jamie T’s revelrous tunes, which have provided the soundtrack to many a tinnies-in-the-park beyond just the UK capital, the set proved as much of a nostalgic trip as it was for the man of the moment, who was now flanked by two longtime friends and bandmates, including drummer and birthday boy Alex Robins.
Closing with a momentous singalong of fan favourite ‘Zombie’, this was a set that celebrated the well-trodden path Jamie T has spun for himself since his rowdy 2007 debut, and conjured a carefree spirit of days gone by. Indeed, despite the brilliance of some of the opening acts – Hak Baker and Biig Piig especially – nothing could upstage such a cause.
