James

Alicante’s port was a boiling cauldron on August 24th, the air thick with heat, cigarette smoke, and that restless Mediterranean charge that makes you feel like anything could happen. By the time James hit the stage at Noches de Mágicas, El Muelle was less a festival ground and more a pressure cooker ready to blow.

Tim Booth slithered out like a man possessed, barefoot and sharp-eyed, arms twitching as if the music was pulling strings only he could feel. He looked less like a frontman and more like a spiritual agitator, pushing the crowd into places they didn’t know they could go. When they launched into “Zero”, it wasn’t an opener, it was a dare.

From there, James gave no quarter. “Ring the Bells” hit like a street riot, guitars snarling while Andy Diagram’s trumpet screamed over the top like some kind of alarm. The audience—locals, expats, festival junkies—lost their collective mind, bodies pressed together in the heavy heat, strangers howling lyrics into each other’s faces.

This wasn’t some slick nostalgia show. Sure, “Sit Down” arrived like a tidal wave, but it felt dangerous, like the whole place might crack open if one more person threw their arms in the air. And when “Sometimes” came, it was absolute bedlam—the band dropped out, and the entire port turned into one wild, drunken, glorious choir.

Booth just stood there, wide-eyed and sweating, letting Alicante sing his song back at him like it belonged to the streets.

The new songs cut deep too—“All the Colours of You” snarled with relevance, a reminder that James are still writing like the world’s on fire because, well, it is.

By the end, as fireworks popped above the marina and the sea breeze finally rolled in, the whole night felt less like a gig and more like a fever dream—sweaty, raw, euphoric, and just on the edge of chaos. James didn’t just play Alicante. They owned it, bled into it, and left it gasping for more.

A gritty, soul-shaking triumph from a band that refuses to age gracefully—and thank God for that.

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